ON SAINT REMBERT, ARCHBISHOP OF HAMBURG, AT BREMEN IN LOWER SAXONY,
In the Year 888.
Preliminary Commentary.
Rembert, Archbishop of Hamburg, at Bremen in Lower Saxony (Saint)
By G. H.
Section 1. The Sacred Cult of Saint Rembert.
[1] In connection with the Life of Saint Anschar on February 3, we have explained at length the ancient Trans-Elbian seat of the Saxons, the Archbishopric of Hamburg established there, What must be recalled here from the Acts of Saint Anschar the Bishopric of Bremen united to it, the peoples subject to both Sees, the Legation furthermore instituted by Pontifical authority for the conversion of the peoples of the Danes, Swedes, and Slavs, the Apostolic men diligently and energetically employed in it, the Kings of those peoples, especially of the Danes, proved in legitimate succession, and finally Torholt, at that time a town with its monastery, restored from its antiquity: all of which will shed great light upon this commentary. Saint Rembert succeeds him The most faithful disciple of Saint Anschar, his Master, Saint Rembert, succeeded him in both the dignity of the Apostolic Legation and the Archbishopric of Hamburg, elected, as is said below in the Acts at number 14, on the very day of his predecessor's deposition, by the harmonious consent of the Clergy and people. Which day was not without special mystery dedicated to his sacred cult: namely, that he who in the Acts at numbers 3, 7, and 12 is praised as an imitator of the sanctity of Anschar, equal in merits and is held equal to him in merits on account of the devotion of one faith and the administration of the same office, and finally, by his oracle, was made certain that he would not be separated from him in the future age as a partaker of eternal beatitude -- that he, I say, should not differ from him in Ecclesiastical veneration.
[2] Therefore, on the day after the birthday of Saint Anschar, or February 4, very many Martyrologies list him. The Florarium manuscript: venerated on February 4, when elected Bishop "At Bremen, Saint Rembert, Bishop and Confessor." The Roman Martyrology: "On the same day, Saint Rembert, Bishop of Bremen." Hermann Greuen and Molanus in the additions to Usuard, and Canisius in the German Martyrology:
"Saint Rembert, Archbishop and Confessor of Bremen, who, educated by Saint Anschar, Bishop of the same city, and succeeding him in government, not only ruled his own people laudably but also frequently announced Christ to the unfaithful." Indeed, it has been proved above that he was called Archbishop of Hamburg, to whose See the Bishopric of Bremen was united. Galesinius relates the following on the same day: "At Bremen, Saint Rembert, Bishop and Confessor. He, the disciple of Blessed Anschar, Bishop of the same city, first a monk, then a Bishop, conducted himself so piously in every aspect of life that, his holiness having been perceived in admirable things, he was inscribed in the number of the Saints." That before the Episcopate he had professed the monastic life, Trithemius also taught in book 3 of the Illustrious Men of the Order of Saint Benedict, chapter 210: "Rembert," he says, "from a monk of the monastery of Corvey became the second Archbishop of Bremen, a man of holy conduct, singular in faith, innocence, and piety, who shone with great signs. He governed the Church of Bremen vigorously for nine years. He flourished in the year of the Lord 870. His feast is observed on the day before the Nones of February." The same Trithemius has nearly the same in book 4, chapter 89, where he says he flourished in the year of the Lord 885. Rather, he flourished at both times, as we shall show below that he was created Archbishop of Hamburg in the year 865, and survived not only nine but twenty-three years, to the year 888 of this century. Moreover, that Saint Rembert, upon assuming the Archiepiscopal dignity, took the monastic habit from a vow he had once made at New Corvey, he lived according to the rule of Saint Benedict and thereafter composed the rest of his life according to the rule of Saint Benedict, the Acts relate at number 15. By which right the Benedictines claim him for themselves. The Calendar of the Order of Saint Benedict, manuscript of the monastery of Saint Saviour at Antwerp: "Saint Reinbert, third Archbishop of Bremen, and first a monk of Corvey." But it is certainly established that he was the second Archbishop of Hamburg. Menardus in the Benedictine Martyrology: "At Bremen, Saint Rembert, Bishop, disciple of Saint Anschar, who watered the faith planted in Denmark by his master with piety, doctrine, and miracles." The same, in the Appendix to book 1 of his Observations, states that it was incorrectly written by some that he had been made a monk at the cell of Torholt: which Wion had done in the Monastic Martyrology: "At Bremen," he says, "Saint Rembert, Bishop and Confessor, who, powerful in work and word, renowned for miracles, rested in peace; who, as is said in the Annotations, led an irreproachable monastic life at Torholt from his earliest age, but was thence taken away by Saint Anschar and placed over the monastery of Corvey, and afterward succeeded him in the Archbishopric of Bremen." Of this monastic life of Saint Rembert among the monks of Torholt and his prefecture among the monks of Corvey, no mention is made in the Life as found in Surius or Krantzius, whom Wion cites. Dorganius in the Benedictine Calendar, Miraeus in the Belgian Fasti, Sanderus in the Hagiologium of Flanders, and other writers of his Life, to be cited below, celebrate him on this day.
[3] Concerning the day of death, there is deep silence in the Acts. Wion in his Annotations to June 11 and Vastovius in the Vitis Aquilonia state that he departed from this light on the day before the Nones of February. he did not die on February 4 But Adam, Canon of Bremen, Albert, Abbot of Stade, and Krantzius, Professor of Theology at Hamburg and Dean of its college, refer the deposition of Saint Rembert to the third day before the Ides of June June 11, on which day Wion and Molanus in the second edition of Usuard observe that his more celebrated feast is held. but on June 11, on which day he is also venerated Molanus on June 11 thus writes: "At Bremen, Saint Rembert, Archbishop and Confessor." The same Molanus in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium compiled a notable epitome of his Life from Surius and Krantzius, which Ghinius further condensed in the Birthdays of the Canonical Saints, among whom he counts him. In the German Martyrology published in the year 1599, this encomium is brought forward on that day: "Also at Bremen, of the holy Archbishop and Confessor Rembert, who performed many notable deeds for the honor of God in the Church." Wion, Galesinius (who calls him Rombertus), Hermann Greuen, and the author of the manuscript Florarium (by whom he is called Rumbertus) mention him on that same June 11. On the same day in the Breviaries of Bremen and Ratzeburg, he is honored with Ecclesiastical office, and indeed by the people of Hamburg with an octave, as Molanus observes in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium.
[4] Ferrarius celebrates him on June 8 and 10: on the former day, "At Bremen in Saxony," he says, "Saint Rembert, Bishop of Hamburg"; on the latter, "At Bremen, Saint Rembert, Bishop." By error, June 8 and 10 There he cites the Tables of the Church of Bremen, here Albert Krantzius, book 2, Metropolis, chapter 11: in whom we have said that the third day before the Ides of June June 11 is read, so that it may be conjectured from this that Ferrarius errs in the other place as well. and June 13 On the Ides of June the Carthusians of Brussels list the same in their manuscript Fasti, which is supported by Jacobus Meyerus, book 2 of the Annals of Flanders, at the year 887, where he states that he found feast days appointed for him on the Ides of June: in which place "the third before the Ides" must be substituted. and January 31 is indicated Thus in a manuscript codex of the monastery of Bodeken, of which we shall presently treat, it is read that he was venerated on the day before the Kalends of February, for which Nones must be substituted. A special prayer concerning him is read in the Breviarium of Ratzeburg, which we here append. Prayer.
"O God, An ancient prayer concerning him who didst deign to choose Blessed Reimbert, Thy Confessor and Bishop, as a preeminent Teacher and preacher of the Catholic faith; grant, we beseech Thee, that, by his intercession on our behalf, we may deserve to be freed from the evils of our sins and to serve Thee, O Lord, with sincere minds. Through our Lord," etc.
Section 2. The Life of Saint Rembert as Written.
[5] Two have thus far published in print the Life of Saint Rembert, written soon after his death. The Life previously edited First, with altered phrasing, Laurentius Surius on this February 4; recently, however, in the original style, Philippus Caesar (formerly a non-Catholic Canon and Pastor of Bremen at Saint Anschar's, now an orthodox Doctor of Sacred Theology) in the Triapostolate of the North, which he published on the Life and Deeds of Saints Willehad, Anschar, and Rembert in Cologne in the year [16]42 of this century, using a very ancient manuscript codex of the Church of Hamburg. here given from various manuscripts We have obtained the same Life through the efforts of our Johannes Gamansius from three manuscript codices, of which the Carthusians of Cologne supplied two copies and the Canons Regular of the monastery of Bodeken in Westphalia the third. In these three codices there was no division of chapters: Philippus Caesar proposes one from the Hamburg codex, far different from the division of Surius; differing by almost one section from the chapters cited in Adam of Bremen. For what Adam excerpts from chapters 16 and 18 is read in Philippus at chapters 17 and 19: although typographical errors are not absent from Adam, citing chapter 20, which for him was necessarily 18. Wherefore we, having collated these various copies, give the Life divided into new chapters in our manner and illustrated with annotations.
[6] The writer of this Life, if indeed he was a single individual, was, in the judgment of Surius as well, a weighty man and a contemporary of Saint Rembert, written by contemporary authors as Lambecius also observes in the Origins of Hamburg. Certainly at number 15 he attests that even today, when he was writing, Adalgarius, who later succeeded him in the Archbishopric, survived along with many others; Adalgarius died in the year of Christ 909. Furthermore, the name of a virgin consecrated to God (to whom Saint Rembert wrote the letter inserted in chapter 6) is withheld because, still being alive, she wished it not to be made public, for the sake of avoiding boastfulness. Philippus Caesar, in Annotation 73, thinks this Life was written by Adalgarius: "So that," he says, not by his successor Adalgarius "just as Saint Anschar wrote the Life of Saint Willehad, and Saint Rembert that of Saint Anschar, so the Life of Saint Rembert might have been written by Adalgarius, who bears him excellent testimony of his observed monastic life and rule." But several things stand against this: first, the praise of Adalgarius put forward at numbers 15 and 27, where he is called a venerable man, a man distinguished in his conduct and an imitator of the conduct of Saint Rembert. Secondly, it is indicated at number 28 that the writer was absent at the death of Saint Rembert, since the passing to the Lord is reported to have taken place in the order that follows: yet at number 27, Adalgarius, given to him as Coadjutor both by the authority of the Kings and the approval of the Synod, would not have been permitted to be absent at his death, which had long been foreseen. Thirdly, Adalgarius is brought forward as a witness at number 15, certainly another person from the writer himself. but by monks of New Corvey in Saxony Adam of Bremen more truly judges at chapter 32 that the Life of Saint Rembert was given by the Brothers of New Corvey, which
briefly and clearly comprehends who he was and how he lived. In that Life indeed, things that concern this Corvey are accurately adduced: thus at number 14, Rembert, elected Archbishop, is led by Adalgarius, Abbot of the monastery of New Corvey, to Louis, King of Germany. And at number 15, the Archbishop, already consecrated, takes the monastic habit in the monastery of New Corvey, and associates with himself another Adalgarius, a Deacon and brother of the Abbot, as his companion, called at number 27 a monk of the monastery of New Corvey, and assumed into the Coadjutorship and succession of the Archbishopric with the assent of the Abbot and Brothers of his monastery.
[7] That these Acts were moreover written by several monks, as we have noted from Adam, is confirmed by the texture of the Life; in which all those things that pertain to the writer, several collaborating here gathered together by us in one heap, are continuously produced in the plural number. Thus at number 1: "About to write, we faithfully narrate, insofar as we have learned these things." Number 3: "Now we shall begin to write about the imitator of his (Saint Anschar's) sanctity." 4: "We have said that the office was enjoined upon the Bishop." 6: "Of whom we speak" and "we say he left the school." 7: "We have said the mind is illuminated by the grace of God, according to the judgment which we have brought forward." 8: "We have found the interpretation." 9: "We have proposed from Sacred Scripture" and "we have judged it fitting to expound." 12: "We have proposed from the Apostle" and "it is ours to believe equals in merits." 16: "The deeds can scarcely be explained by us." 18: "So that we know nothing was done more wisely anywhere." 19: "The letter of which we speak, we have decreed to place here." 21: "This letter we have placed here." 24: "We recall one thing." 26: "In our times...let it suffice that we have proved." 28: "We have just now brought forward" and "we shall narrate in that place." 31: "We retain in memory." And in many other places, "as we have said." Finally, as far as conjecture can take us, we believe this Life to have been written under the sixth Abbot of New Corvey, perhaps in the time of Abbot Bauo? Bauo or Bono I, a man of distinguished learning, great diligence in studies, and industry in the varied reading of books, and also decorated with the title of "Lover of the Brothers" on account of his singular affection toward his subjects: from whose pen Adam at chapter 35 commemorates that the Acts of his time were produced, from the shipwreck of which he seized one plank for us here, namely an illustrious miracle performed by Saint Rembert, transcribed in his own words into his history. We give it below, perhaps omitted in the Life by his subjects because it had already been published in the History of their Prelate. This Bauo or Bono is reported to have governed New Corvey from the year 893 to 898 in the ancient Catalogue of Abbots of that monastery in the Chronicle of Corvey, published in German by Johannes Letzner.
[8] Finally, that the Life which we have commemorated as written in former times is the same the same, as is proved as that which is published here, several things prove: first, the Decree of Gregory IV concerning the institution of the Archbishopric of Hamburg, printed on February 3, whose words are cited here at number 14. Next, what is brought forward below at number 11, transcribed from the Life of Saint Anschar, is read in the very same words at numbers 68 and 71 there. Furthermore, both the opinions and words that Adam of Bremen transferred from these Acts into his History from chapter 32 to 36 agree; so that Baronius rightly judged at the year 888, number 7, that Adam was recalling that Life which is found published by Surius without an author: but which is given there in an altered style, and here in the original. Notwithstanding these things, we have observed that some degree of integrity is lacking in the said manuscript codices of German libraries, as noted in the Acts of Saint Anschar, sections 3 and 12, slightly interpolated obtained fully and completely from the double French manuscript, Parisian and Corbeian: and since we were unable to obtain the Acts of Saint Rembert from there, we washed out two blemishes sprinkled upon them; namely, that certain northern places, to which the Legation of the Archbishops of Hamburg was extended in the eleventh century of Christ, were intruded: and that various Bishops then ordained were read in the Hamburg codex as having subscribed as approvers of this Life. Concerning a third defect, on account of the investiture of Bishops against Ecclesiastical liberty seized at that time by the Emperor Henry III, we shall treat below. Moreover, most writers of Denmark, Sweden, Saxony, Frisia, and Flanders celebrate the memory of Saint Rembert, whose catalogue we have set out in section 3 of the Acts of Saint Anschar. The Life of the same Rembert, reduced to an epitome, was described from Surius in Latin by Franciscus Haraeus and Zacharias Lippelous, condensed into an epitome by various authors in French by Jacobus Doubletius, in German by Henricus Fabricius, and in Flemish by Henricus Adriani and Heribertus Rosweydus. But more ancient than these are what is reported both in the History of the Archbishops of Bremen from Charlemagne to the Emperor Charles IV, and in an Old Writing on the Church of Bremen, published together with the History of Adam through the efforts of Lindebrog, which we shall presently examine. Meyerus, besides the Life of Saint Rembert published by him, also states in the Annals of Flanders at the year 887 that he himself celebrated him in lyric verses.
Section 3. The Homeland of Saint Rembert.
[9] The Acts of Saint Anschar bring forward at number 55 a certain Rembert, a Priest, Saint Rembert was not Danish by birth sent for the work of the Gospel to the Swedes, kindly received by the King and people, who freely celebrated the divine mysteries among them. Philippus Caesar, in Annotation 63, writes that this was Saint Rembert, and therefore, as is added in the same Acts, sprung from the nation of the Danes. But since Rembert, suppressing his own name everywhere, described himself under the title of the most faithful disciple in those Acts, here, to avoid confusion, he added that the other was Danish by origin, sent by Saint Anschar to Sweden and that he had been celebrating the divine mysteries among the Swedes up to that time, while Saint Rembert himself was present at the dying Anschar, and at his command read aloud the last words of the prayers, and then published the Life he had written of him. Johannes Vastovius, seeking to reconcile various narratives, states in the Vitis Aquilonia that Saint Rembert was left by Anschar in Sweden in the year 848, while the church erected at Ribe in Jutland was entrusted to him. nor placed over the church of Ribe We know that in the Old Writing of the Church of Bremen it is read that the church of Ribe was founded by him: since others saw that this glory was owed to Saint Anschar, they at least presumed that the church of Ribe was committed by him to Saint Rembert; whom below, the Acts at number 11 state to have been accustomed to be more familiarly present to Saint Anschar in all things, and to have persevered familiarly with the Bishop at Bremen in this place of devotion. Moreover, both the Swedish and the Ripen residence are contradicted by Adam of Bremen, chapter 31, Albert of Stade at the year 865, Krantzius, book 2 of the Metropolis, chapter 2, and the author of the Ancient Chronicle published with Adam, who maintain that Rembert, when the successor of Saint Anschar was being elected after his death, was only his Deacon, as if not yet promoted to the order of the presbyterate.
[10] We have brought forward in section 6 of the Life of Saint Anschar various writers of Frisian affairs who contend that he was a native of their Frisia. He was not a kinsman of Saint Anschar Of these, Martinus Hamconius in the Adelricus Adelen and on the Apostles of Frisia writes that Saint Rembert was a kinsman of Saint Anschar, whom he prefers to have been born at Warden on the river Lauwers, although he adds that he is considered by others to be a Frank. Suffridus Petrus, in the seventh Decade of the Writers of Frisia, number 1, asserts that Rembert was a fellow countryman and kinsman of Saint Anschar, whom in the sixth decade, number 7, he had written was born in the city of Frisia called Vardena, nor born in Frisia afterward overwhelmed and swept away by a flood of waters. Pierius Winsemius, book 4 of the Chronicle of Frisia, contends that Anschar was Frisian by birth: but as for Rembert, because he does not dare to snatch him from the Flemings, and would gladly attribute him to his own Frisians, he leaves the question undecided. On the other hand, Ubbo Emmius, book 5 of the History of Frisia, teaches that Anschar was said to be a Frank by origin, but Rembert to have been a Frisian. Bernardus Furmerius, books 5 and 6 of the Annals of Frisia, ascribes both Anschar and Rembert to the Frisians. We have corrected various errors put forward by these writers concerning Saint Anschar in the said section 6, where we show that he was a Frank by origin: so that, for the very reason that they called Rembert his kinsman and fellow countryman (but without any foundation), he can no longer be counted among the Frisians.
[11] Johannes Adolphus Cypraeus, book 1 of the Annals of Schleswig, chapter 4, brings forward an encomium of Saint Rembert, but sprinkled with various defects. For in it he establishes that Rembert dedicated the book on the Life of Saint Anschar, written by himself, to the Brothers of New Corvey, which, having been asserted by several, we have refuted in section 3 of this Life.
The same writer states that Rembert, after being initiated into sacred orders, was sent and dispatched by Anschar to Ribe in Jutland, to govern the Church there, to teach the word of God, and to imbue the minds of Christians who were still untrained with sacred things. That these things are less approved by us we have already shown: he studied or taught among the people of Tours other things we shall reject below. What concerns us here is that he states Rembert was educated in the monastery of Tours in Gaul, and there governed the school of Tours in the education of youth for some years with the highest praise, fruit, and profit: and then was placed over the school of Corvey, appointed Rector by the counsel of Saint Anschar. We have treated of the illustrious school of Tours in that period, namely of the Major Monastery of Saint Martin, commonly called Marmoustier, on this day in the Life of Blessed Rabanus, section 3, which it is certain is here confused by Cypraeus with the monastery or cell of Torholt. Thence, summoned from the scholastic disciplines in which he was being trained by Anschar, below at number 6 he is reported to have been the inseparable companion of his Legation, so that his monastic life before the Episcopate, and his prefecture of monks, as well as his governance of scholastic exercises in whatever place it was finally undertaken, must be rejected. but at the town of Torholt At Torholt, however, at number 4, Rembert was being educated in the schools among the boys, when Saint Anschar, present there, having summoned his parents, assumed him into the Clergy by tonsure and ecclesiastical habit and adopted him for himself. not of Brabant Hence Isaacus Pontanus, book 4 of Denmark, called him a Brabantine, where he erroneously supposed, as we have noted elsewhere, that Turnhout, a town of the Campine district of Brabant, was equipped with this cell or monastery. But because Torholt (which we have shown was at that time outside Flanders, but of modern Flanders then bounded by small limits, in its own County) has from about that time been contained within the same Flanders; Meyerus at the year 887, Molanus in his Index and the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium on June 11, Miraeus in the Belgian Chronicle at the year 888 and the Belgian Fasti on this February 4, Sanderus on the Saints of Flanders, book 3, Rosweydus in the Annals of Belgium at the year 864, and very many other writers more correctly assert him to be a Fleming or born at Torholt in Flanders: so that it is surprising he was not equally inserted by Saussay into the Gallican Martyrology, as Saint Anschar was.
Section 4. The Archiepiscopal Investiture Attributed to the Age of Saint Rembert by Later Generations.
[12] In the Old Writing on the Church of Bremen, published together with the Ecclesiastical History of Adam, the following encomium of Saint Rembert is brought forward, but not to be passed over without proper censure. "Blessed Ansgarius," says the author, "was immediately succeeded by Blessed Reimbert, Encomium of Saint Rembert from an old writing the second Archbishop of the said Church, whom Blessed Ansgarius commended, saying thus: 'Reimbert is more worthy of the Archiepiscopal dignity than I of the office of Archdeacon: who baptized the King of Denmark and founded the Church of Ribe, and because he also healed from all bodily sickness many of the infirm whom he had purified there by the sacred font of baptism. He also baptized the King of Sweden and strengthened his entire kingdom in the faith of Christ, and among other miracles of holiness he is read to have calmed a storm at sea and to have freed a man from a demon, namely Charles, son of the Emperor Louis, and also to have given sight to a blind man by the sign of the Cross, which he made in the episcopal manner. Also, in the twelfth year of the pontificate of Lord Reimbert, Louis the Pious, Caesar, died. After whose death evils were multiplied upon the earth, so that cities with their citizens and Bishops with their clergy were killed by Danes and Normans, and all the churches perished by fire; the cities of Saxony, Cologne, and Aachen were destroyed by the same: the Palace which the Emperor Charles had gloriously built at Aachen, they made into a stable for their horses.'" So says that anonymous author; in it Louis the Pious is confused with his son and grandson the last part of which is reported in the very same words in the History of the Archbishops of Bremen, namely that in the twelfth year of Lord Reimbert, Louis the Pious, the great Caesar, died, and that evils were thereafter multiplied, etc. Who, imbued with even the slightest knowledge of history, would not immediately notice that these dates are absurdly confused? The Emperor Louis the Pious, or Caesar, died in the year 840, when Rembert as an adolescent was still being cultivated in studies at Torholt; but his son Louis, King of Germany, father of Charles the Fat who was freed from a demon, survived until the twelfth year of the Archbishopric of Saint Rembert, and died on the fifth day before the Kalends of September of the year of Christ 876. But who called him "the Pious" or named him "Caesar" or "Emperor"? Another Louis at that time, the son of the Emperor Lothar, held Italy with the title of Emperor, surviving to the year of Christ 875, the eleventh year of the Archbishopric of Rembert.
[13] Adam seems to have used similar confused documents, from which he writes this at chapter 32: "Rembert received the pontifical Pallium from Pope Nicholas, The supposed antiquity of Episcopal Investiture by Emperors and the pastoral staff from the Caesar Louis, as can be recognized in the privileges." But what follows is excerpted from his Life -- as if the former were not read in the Life, intruded later: where at number 6 it is stated that Rembert was honorably received by King Louis, together with the commendation of the pontifical staff according to custom -- that is, according to the custom desired by the interpolator, so that a welcome benefit might be rendered to the Emperor Henry III, or King Henry IV of Germany, who reigned for fifty-two years from the year 1056 to 1108, separated from the Roman Pontiffs for most of that time by an ugly schism, in which he appointed Bishops and Abbots by his private authority, which they call investiture. Concerning this investiture, after Baronius, Bellarmine, and others, our Gretserus accurately discusses in the Baronial Apology, chapter 1, and in the Basilikon Doron, chapter 5. Moreover, the privileges of the Church of Hamburg and Bremen, carefully unearthed through the effort and labor of Erpoldus Lindebrog, are extant, published with the history of Adam of Bremen. Among them no privilege of the kind construed by Adam is found. But eight documents of the said Emperor Henry are read, by which he confers many benefits on the Archbishops of Hamburg, Adalbert the Archbishops of Hamburg adhering to Henry III, Liemar and his successor Liemar, his intimate friends, as the last privilege, given at Rome after the city was stormed in the year 1083, makes clear, in which the Emperor thus speaks of Liemar: "In the Saxon War he stood by us in two very grave battles at the greatest peril; but also at the Apostolic See he carried out our embassy against Hildebrand, the disturber of the world" (this is an insult against Gregory VII, the Roman Pontiff) "with great difficulties and anxieties, and came with us three times to storm the city of Rome and take it. To him, on account of such great fidelity toward us and the best of good will, we have given the Abbey of Alten to be possessed in perpetual right." Where he adds and Adalbert that he also conferred upon Adalbert, venerable Archbishop of the same See, a most learned and eminently faithful man, the estate of Liesmundi, many other properties, Counties, and many gifts and ornaments. Adam is effusive in praising the said Adalbert throughout book 4, where at chapter 46, the last, he states that he, established as Major Domus in the Palace of the said Henry, could not be torn from his fidelity either by the threats or blandishments of the Princes. Indeed, that because the Emperor, then still a young man, did everything by the counsel of Adalbert, it was judged that not so much he as this Archbishop was to be blamed, is stated in the History of the Archbishops of Bremen.
[14] In the year 1072, Liemar was substituted for Adalbert and survived to the year 1101; to whom the oft-mentioned Adam then inscribed his History. But that the people of Bremen, after his death, adhered to the Emperor Henry in the foul abuse of investiture, is taught by Ebbo in the ancient Life of Saint Otto, Bishop of Bamberg, book 1, chapter 6: "For at this time," he says, "the Church did not have free election, as was later enacted under Henry V through the mediation of Pope Callixtus of pious memory: but when any Bishop had entered upon the way of all flesh, immediately the chief men of that city would send the ring and pastoral staff to the Palace; and so the royal authority, when the ring and pastoral staff were offered to them having consulted with the Courtiers, would appoint a suitable Bishop for the bereaved people. And so when, as we have said, the pastoral staff and ring of the Bishop
of Bremen were offered to the Emperor; he immediately, having summoned Otto, whom he uniquely loved, gave these gifts to him for safekeeping. But after a few days the ring and pastoral staff of Rupert, Bishop of Bamberg, were also sent to the Lord Emperor." This was done in the year 1102, when Liemar had died in the preceding year. But Saint Otto, then designated Bishop of Bamberg, at first suffered himself to be invested by the Emperor's hand; but noticing that this was done against the Canons, touched by religious scruple, he refused to receive consecration unless he should receive the ring and staff from the hand of the Roman Pontiff, as is read there at chapter 10. These are the things concerning the investiture then customarily usurped by the people of Bremen, and intruded into the Acts of Saint Rembert, together with the subscriptions of nineteen Bishops ordained by the said Adalbert, and the names of the Greenlanders, Icelanders, Scrithfins, and other peoples, discovered long after the age of Saints Anschar and Rembert. Adam, thus far refuted, was transcribed in his customary manner by Albert of Stade at the year 865, in the very same words: "He received the pontifical Pallium from Pope Nicholas, and the pastoral staff from the Caesar Louis." But Krantzius, in book 2 of the Metropolis, chapter 2, having removed the name of Caesar, not without Ecclesiastical jurisdiction explains the other part, modestly corrected, thus: "He received the pastoral staff," he says, "that is, the feudal investiture, from Louis, King of Germany." But that beyond temporal dominion some Ecclesiastical jurisdiction arrogated to themselves and claimed by the Emperors is to be understood, is manifest from the foregoing.
Section 5. Churches and Monasteries Erected by Saint Rembert. Conversions of the Nations.
[15] Among other Ecclesiastical acts in which Rembert took part, may be reckoned the dedication of the church of Saint Mary in Hildesheim, Saint Rembert consecrates with others the church of Hildesheim performed in the year 872, the fifth Indiction, by the venerable Bishops Alfrid, Bishop of the same Church, and Rimbert, and Theodric, and also Luithard, with the participation of the devout Abbot Adalgarius, and of monks and Canons, as the Annals of Hildesheim in volume 3 of the Writers of Frankish History relate. We have treated of Altfrid on this day in the Life of Blessed Rabanus: we have given the Life of Saint Theodoric, Bishop of Minden, on February 2: concerning Luithard, Bishop of Paderborn, and Adalgarius, Abbot of Corvey, we shall treat below in chapter 4 and the following.
[16] Moreover, as Adam attests at chapter 37, Rembert took special care of the see of Hamburg, ministering timely consolations both to the Brothers and to the poor, he builds the monastery of Bucken having strict solicitude for all, and to the four monasteries founded by his predecessor Anschar he himself added a fifth in the wilderness of Bukkin -- called by others Buckin, Bucken, and Buckum. Adam is described by Albert at the year 882, by Krantzius in chapter 11 of book 2 of the Metropolis, in the Ancient Annals published with Adam, and in the History of the Archbishops of Bremen, in which the conventual church is named with a Provostship and secular Canons, whom Rembert commanded to live there according to a rule, in honor of God and Saint Maternianus the Confessor. The latter was Bishop of Reims, certain relics of whom we have shown were given by Ebbo to Saint Anschar, and certain others by Hincmar to Louis, King of Germany, in section 13 of the Life of Saint Anschar. Adam, book 3, chapter 63, relates that Archbishop Alebrand was conveyed by boat from Bremen to this Provostship of Bucken, and there was extinguished by a fever. Mention of the same monastery is made in the Privileges of the holy Emperors Henry and Frederick, given in the years 1003, 1014, and 1158.
[17] Helmold in the Chronicle of the Slavs, book 1, chapter 6, wonders that the neighboring Slavs, or Vandals, or Winules, were neglected by Saints Anschar and Rembert: he collaborates in the conversion of the Slavs which he ascribes to the hardness of that people; but not to the torpor of these preachers, whose spirit was so affected concerning the calling of the Nations that they spared neither their resources nor their lives. But what Saint Rembert could not accomplish by himself, he achieved through his co-workers, the monks of New Corvey. For the ancient account of the elders, according to the same Helmold, relates that in the times of Louis the Second (who reigned from the year 886 to 882 [sic] of that century) monks distinguished for sanctity went forth from Corvey, through the monks of Corvey who, thirsting for the salvation of the Slavs, devoted themselves to undertaking dangers and death for the Legation of the word of God. And having traversed many provinces of the Slavs, they came to those who are called Rani, or Rugians, and who dwell in the heart of the sea. Preaching therefore the word of God with all boldness, they gained that entire island, where they also founded an oratory in honor of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and in commemoration of Saint Vitus, who is the Patron of Corvey. So far Helmold. We shall treat of Saint Vitus and his relics translated to the people of Corvey on June 15. The said island of the Baltic Sea, still most well known, is called Rugia.
[18] Adam at chapter 37 and Albert at the year 878 exclaim that since the devastation of the Normans or Danes exceeded all cruelty, and of the Danes it seems all the more wonderful that the holy Confessors of God, Ansgar and Rembert, visited and preached to those nations through such great perils by sea and land, before whose onslaught neither armed Kings nor the powerful peoples of the Franks could stand. whether he converted the Kings of these peoples and of the Swedes? In the encomium of Saint Rembert from the Old Writing of the Church of Bremen given above, Rembert is said to have baptized the King of Denmark, or the Danes, and the King of Sweden, and to have strengthened the latter's entire kingdom in the faith of Christ. We have given on February 3 the letter of Pope Nicholas to Horic, King of the Danes, from which it is established that he favored the Christian name, but had not yet received the faith; yet Adam at chapter 28 and Albert at the year 858 assert this, teaching that he was so won over by Saint Anschar that he himself embraced Christianity. We have noted that this seems surprising, since it is nowhere read in the Life of Saint Anschar or of Rembert.
Section 6. A Victory Obtained by the Prayers of Saint Rembert.
[19] We have said above that Bauo, or Bono, the sixth Abbot of Corvey in Saxony, who ceased to live eight years after the death of Saint Rembert, wrote the more illustrious Acts of his time: which Adam, book 1, chapter 35, commemorates by bringing forward a certain fragment: "Nor does it seem unfitting," he says, "since we have spoken of the persecution that then widely seethed against the Churches, The Normans slain, 10,377 to touch upon the great miracle shown to the Frisians through the merits of Saint Rembert, which the writer of his deeds for some reason omitted. But Bono, Abbot of Corvey, writing about the Acts of his own time, did not pass it over in silence, saying: 'When in modern times a grievous irruption of barbarians was savagely raging in nearly the entire kingdom of the Franks, it happened also that by Divine judgment they descended upon a certain district of Frisia, which is situated in remote places near the great sea; they call it Nordwide, which they set about destroying. For there was at that time the venerable Bishop Rembert, while Saint Rembert prayed by whose exhortations and teachings the Christians, strengthened and instructed, engaged with the enemy, and struck down ten thousand three hundred and seventy-seven of them, with many more besides killed in the crossing of rivers while seeking refuge in flight.'" So far he. Adam adds: "By the miracle of which event, even to this day" (about two hundred years later), "the merits of Saint Rembert among the Frisians are outstanding, a celebrated memory among posterity and his name is honored with a certain special devotion of the people; so much so that the hill on which the Saint prayed while the battle was being fought is marked by the perpetual green of its turf." (And the stone, as is added in the History of the Archbishops of Bremen, on which, kneeling, he placed his arms, shows a trace near Oslinge.) "The Normans, about to avenge on the whole Empire the blow they had received in Frisia, invading Gaul with Kings Sigafrid and Gotafrid through the rivers Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt, cut down the Christians and, attacking King Charles himself in war, made a mockery of our people." So Adam. We have treated of Godfrid, son of King Herioldt, to whom Charles the Fat, having given in marriage Gisla, daughter of King Lothar, granted Frisia, as well as of Sigfrid, in section 9 before the Acts of Saint Anschar.
[20] The same victory obtained by the prayers of Saint Rembert is described from Adam by Albert of Stade at the year 876, Krantzius in book 2 of the Metropolis, chapter 10, and at greater length in the History of the Martyrs of Ebbeckstorf, printed after the Index of this Metropolis, Ubbo Emmius in book 5 of the History of Frisia at the year 880, Bernardus Furmerius in book 6 of the Annals of Frisia, and Martinus Hamconius on the Illustrious Men of Frisia under Saint Rembert: all of whom, together with the Author of the History of the Archbishops of Bremen, maintain that the above-mentioned Nordwida whether in the Nordan territory of East Frisia is now called Norda, which Furmerius above and Molanus in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium at June 11 observe was also called Nordwicum. Now Norda is the capital of Nordwida, or Norderland, the seat of the Nordan people, equal or greater in circumference to Emden, undoubtedly next to it in beauty, wealth, and culture, although lacking walls, situated twelve thousand paces directly to the north, in the innermost bay of the estuary of the German Ocean: not far from which is seen the village of Osterloech, perhaps Oslinge, a place illustrious for the prayer of Saint Rembert; to whose diocese that entire region pertained.
[21] Notwithstanding these things, the Annals of Fulda at the year of Christ 876 entice us to another opinion; in which it is read thus: "The Frisians who are called Western, fighting with the Normans, but was Nordwicum perhaps in Western Frisia or Holland? emerged victorious; and they took away and divided among themselves all the treasures that the Normans had gathered by plundering very many places." Now Western Frisia at that time was the area that later, whether from a Danish province or for another reason, receiving the name of Holland, in its narrow compass includes the Trans-Rhenish part of ancient Frisia, in which even now the name of West Frisia is celebrated. There is seen Nordwicum, beyond the ancient channel of the Rhine, in remote places near the great sea according to the Saxon writer, for that reason surnamed Nordwicum-on-Sea, about five thousand paces distant from Leiden, and continuously exposed to Norman incursion: whence also, about to avenge the blow received here, entering Gaul through the Rhine and the neighboring mouths of the Meuse and Scheldt, they most cruelly cut down the Christians, especially in the year 881 and the following, as contemporary Frankish writers everywhere describe, and as we have touched upon in section 9 of the Life of Saint Anschar.
Section 7. The Age and Year of Death of Saint Rembert.
[22] No mention of the years of Saint Rembert is made in the Acts, so that it is not surprising that various opinions have been held by different people. Among these we have already rejected Trithemius above, he lived as Archbishop not 9 who wrote that he governed the Church of Bremen for nine years. Cypraeus, book 1 of the Annals of the Church of Schleswig, chapter 4, writes that he presided for nineteen years; but with a badly calculated reckoning of the collected years. For from the year 865 to the year 888 of that century, or 19, but 23 years twenty-three years necessarily intervene, as he affirms the Archbishop lived, which Lambecius in the Origins of Hamburg more correctly calculated. not having died in the year 887 Meyerus in the Annals of Flanders at the year 887 refers his death, excusable by the reckoning of the Gauls who began their years from the Easter festival, if Rembert had died in February and not in June. Accurately, therefore, Adam states at chapter 38 that he died in the year of the Lord 888, but in 888 the sixth Indiction; and that his deposition, as we have shown above, is celebrated on the third day before the Ides of June June 11, and that he sat for twenty-three years, as the same affirms at chapter 32; namely, having been elected on February 4 of the year 865. Albert, Krantzius, and others everywhere follow Adam.
[23] He began to be weighed down by old age, as described below in the Acts at number 27, when he obtained from Louis the Elder (who died in the year 876) the Coadjutor Adalgarius, so that we may judge him to have been at that time more than fifty years old. born around the year 820 He may have been born in the year 820 or thereabouts of that century; then, at the age of twelve, being nearly the smallest among the other boys in the school, he was assumed into the Clergy by Saint Anschar, who gave him the tonsure and ecclesiastical habit, when he, consecrated Archbishop of Hamburg, first visited Torholt, which had been given to him, around the year 832. he lived about 68 years Consequently, he would have been promoted to the Archiepiscopal dignity at the age of forty-five, and departed from this life in the sixty-eighth year of his age, full of merits.
LIFE
By monks of Corvey as authors, from various manuscripts.
Rembert, Archbishop of Hamburg, at Bremen in Lower Saxony (Saint)
BHL Number: 7258
By monks of Corvey as authors, from manuscripts.
CHAPTER 1
The Archbishopric of Hamburg Established. The Adoption of Saint Rembert into the Clergy.
[1] Prologue About to write the Life of the Bishop Rembert, always to be remembered with all veneration, we faithfully narrate, insofar as we have learned these things, what occasion for his office first arose, or whom he had as its founder or the director of his way of life, or how, being elected to this office, he thereafter lived.
[2] When the Emperor Louis held the monarchy of the kingdom of the Franks, he took care to render devoutly such a return to God, the author of his exaltation, that the churches of God established in his kingdom might advance with fitting vigor, and the state of the servants and handmaidens of God might grow more widely with an increase of honor. Amid his continual meditations, there entered also from Divine inspiration the remembrance of how his most serene father Charles, surnamed the Great, by the decree of Charlemagne had converted the nation of the Saxons, hitherto unbelieving, to the faith of Christ, and that after Bishops in sufficient number had been established throughout that province, and their Sees prudently distributed, he had reserved the farthest part of the same province toward the northern region for this purpose, that an Archiepiscopal See should be established there: whence the preaching of the word of God might be made to the neighboring peoples of the Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Faroe Islanders, Greenlanders, Icelanders, Scrithfins, Slavs, and also all the northern and eastern nations, by whatever name they are called, who are still involved in pagan errors. But for this work, the Church of Hamburg was only built and dedicated at the border of the Danes and Slavs, the church at Hamburg built in the farthest parts of the Saxons, among those who are called Nordalbingians, and together with the inhabitants of the places, the same Church was entrusted by the command of the same glorious Emperor Charles to the governance of Priests: until at an opportune time, when episcopal provisions had first been assigned to the place, he might cause an Archbishop to be consecrated there.
[3] But when he was taken from this life before the accomplishment of this vow, his most pious son, the aforesaid Louis, reviewing this intention with his faithful counselors, caused Anschar, a man of the highest sanctity, as his father had decreed, to be elevated by the privilege of the Archbishopric, both in rank and name, Louis the Pious appoints Saint Anschar as Archbishop and to be ordained as Rector for the aforesaid newly planted Church and the peoples still untrained in the faith, and as a dispenser of the divine word to the nations, as was said, not yet believing. His manner of life from boyhood in the fear of God, and the increase of his virtues with the advance of age, and by how many signs the office of his pontificate and preaching was shown beforehand, and how by the privileges of the Apostolic See his entire cause was fortified, and his zeal and progress in winning souls for God, which he daily endeavored either to strengthen in the faith or to lead from paganism to Christianity -- whoever wishes to know this, let him read the book of his Life, and he will weigh what a man of great holiness he was. We, now about to write of the imitator of his sanctity and at the same time the successor to his dignity, Rembert, shall begin here to speak of how he first became known to him and was subsequently adopted.
[4] When the boundaries of the aforesaid newly established Church of Hamburg were already narrow, and the revenues collected from its appurtenances were not sufficient for so great an office as we have said was enjoined upon its Bishop, and the income that could accrue was plundered by frequent hostile incursion; lest by this the man of God should be hindered from the office of preaching, which in the account of his deeds is usually called the Legation to the Nations; and in the monastery of Torholt the aforesaid Emperor Louis entrusted a certain cell in Gaul, called Torholt, to serve that Legation in perpetuity. Now at a certain time the Lord Bishop, dwelling there, observed certain boys hastening to the church in play and idle races: of whom a certain one, nearly the smallest among the rest, walking gravely, Saint Rembert, a pious boy and carefully avoiding childish frivolities, performed his prayer with reverence and fear, and rising, fortified his forehead with the sign of the Cross and, as if he were of a more mature age, displayed his self-control in all things. The man of God, therefore, perceived that the sacred childhood of the devout boy was already burning with the love of the Divine service, and having summoned his parents to him, he learned the name of the boy, that he was called Rembert: and having received their consent, he imposed the tonsure and ecclesiastical habit upon him. he is adopted into the Clergy And so, commending him there with fatherly solicitude, he ordered him to be studiously instructed, and after a few days departed from there and diligently pursued the work of the pastoral office he had undertaken and his Legation to the Nations.
[5] After this, the boy now beloved of God, advancing more and more in gravity, both ardently applied himself to learning the liberal disciplines and, accustomed amid these to prayers and the other occupations of good things, in a few years shone forth, perfected in all maturity and knowledge of the virtues: and already then, according to the Psalmist, his heart grew hot within him, and in his meditation a fire was kindled, Psalm 39:4 amid his studies as he desired to find what would profit him most while living in this life. To him meditating on such things there occurred, according to a certain wise man, that the first definition of philosophy is the meditation of death, and he drank this in with his whole heart, so that in all the time of his life he might strive to attain this highest wisdom: devoted to the meditation of death so that at the time of his death he might not be saddened by neglect of premeditation upon it, but rather might deserve to rejoice in security concerning either the avoidance or the remission of sins, through the observance of the Scripture that admonishes and says: "In all your works remember your last end, and you shall never sin" Sirach 7:40, as far as is possible for the human condition.
NotesCHAPTER 2
The Familiarity of Saint Rembert with Saint Anschar. His Sanctity Demonstrated.
[6] The venerable Bishop, therefore, who consecrated him to the Divine service, as is read in the account of his life, was accustomed to foreknow and foreordain almost all things that were to come to him or to be done by him, By a revelation made to Saint Anschar either through a dream or through an intimate revelation in his mind. What, moreover, this intimate revelation in the mind was, the writers of his Life consider to be something such as is often repeated in the Acts of the Apostles: "The Spirit said to him," or "to that disciple." Acts 8:10 and 11 Whence it should not be doubted that the man of God, not from the event but from the touch of Divine admonition, which in a more hidden sense he was accustomed to perceive in his soul as a spiritual man, adopted this happy boy of whom we speak with such fatherly affection for the Divine ministries: rather, from the tenor of his conduct and the manner in which he was always thereafter treated and regarded by him, it seems probable that it was clearly revealed to him by God foreknown as successor in the Episcopate that he would be his successor in the Episcopate. For when first the strictness of the Masters in learning the arts and scholastic disciplines was relaxed for him, which in common parlance we call leaving the school; the Lord Bishop immediately made him the inseparable companion of his Legation, he is taken on as a companion of the Legation and receiving him with joy from the aforesaid little monastery in which he had commended him to be nurtured, he had allowed him to be privy to all his deeds; in which he himself served God with all piety, whether secretly or openly.
[7] Finally, when on a certain day they were standing together at prayer as was their custom, and when the supplication was already finished and they were preparing to leave the church, as if recognizing in his disciple the gift of a more secret grace, intimately loved the Bishop addressed him with these words: "It behooves you, my son Rembert," he said, "always to give thanks to Him who called you from the turbid waves of the world to the harbor of rest: to whom, because I see you indubitably applying your mind, I confess that I burn with the affection of your love, and do not doubt that the same love on my part will endure toward you to the end." asking to enjoy his fellowship in heaven To whom he replied: "I am unworthy, Lord, of such great grace of yours: but since you show this clemency toward me, I ask that by your merits before God it may be obtained that in the future life I may attain to the fellowship of your rewards." Then the holy Bishop (whose mind we have said was often illuminated by the grace of God for foreknowing the things that were to come to him), to these words of the most worthy Rembert, gave no response at the present time; but after the third day had passed, when he was already wearied by the anxiety of his thoughts as to why the Bishop had remained silent at this request of his, he gave him this consolation: "I have now obtained from the Lord," he said, "that in the future age, he is made certain as you asked, we may not be separated from one another: where we shall thus be partakers of eternal beatitude, if we do not presume that we can attain to it by our own virtue -- which is the sin of pride, through which those who work iniquity have fallen -- nor again, growing torpid in sloth, forget what is said: 'In God we shall do valiantly.' Psalm 60:14 But let us daily strive that the good work, as Blessed Gregory admonishes, may be held by us in the will: and thus let us consequently trust that according to the same Doctor, it will be in perfection through the aid of God." after three days of pouring forth prayers "But if anyone is moved that the Bishop made this delay of three days before this response, let him remember that we have already said that his mind was often illuminated by the grace of God for foreknowing the future: concerning which, however, in these very words that follow, it is thus written in his Life: 'For all things, therefore, that he had perhaps to decide as the most important, he wished to have time for reflection; nor did he rashly arrange anything before, illuminated by the grace of God, he himself felt in his mind what was better. And thus, certified by a heavenly visitation in his mind, he arranged without hesitation the things that were to be done.'" Let the reader understand that we have fittingly inserted these things from his Life, so that by this testimony it might be proved that he responded nothing to the request of this most holy disciple of his, Rembert, except what the Holy Spirit infused into his mind over the space of three days, according to the saying which we have also cited above from the Acts
of the Apostles.
[8] There is added also to the presage of the virtues of the blessed man a certain vision, revealed concerning him to the steward of the Bishop on the very first night of his arrival at Hamburg, when he was still in the first age of adolescence. on account of a vision made concerning him For it seemed to the same steward that he had seen Rembert himself sitting at the pinnacle of the oratory, and that a bell of the Church, one of those which we call a "clocca," had appeared in the sky, from which a linen band, as is customary, let down in the manner of a rope, hung all the way down to Rembert himself: by which he himself seemed to have joyfully pulled the same bell and to have been sweetly delighted by its sound. For this dream we have found a fitting interpretation from the divine Scriptures. Exodus 28 Moses is commanded by the Lord that, among other mystical garments of the priestly vestment, these also should be made: "At the bottom of the same tunic," He says, "round about, you shall make as it were pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet twice-dyed, and fine twisted linen, with bells interspersed among them." Why, therefore, bells are here commanded to be attached is shown below. explained in the vestment of the Pontiff "So that the sound may be heard," He says, "when the Pontiff enters the sanctuary in the sight of the Lord, and may not die." A priest entering or leaving dies the bells if the sound is not heard from him, because he provokes the wrath of the hidden Judge against himself if he walks without the sound of preaching. Since, therefore, it was to come about that the man of the Lord, having ascended to the highest degree of the Church, would shine with spiritual ornaments; so that it might also be proved that he performed the office of preaching in a distinguished manner, he was rightly seen to have sat at the pinnacle of the temple, which signifies the summit of the pontificate, with the most sweet and heaven-drawn sound of his teaching, for the purpose of calling the sacred people of Christ to the divine service: for in this display of the vision, the heavenly sign resounding by his drawing can signify what the bells in the vestment of the Pontiff are proved to indicate.
[9] How he also always exhibited spiritually in himself the other ornaments of the priestly habit that we have proposed from Sacred Scripture, we have judged it fitting to set forth for the advancement and imitation of readers. the pomegranates He therefore wore pomegranates, in which many grains are inwardly covered by one skin on the outside: because he himself always bore the manifold operation of the virtues, covered on every side by the one protection of charity. Now these pomegranates were made of purple, blue, scarlet twice-dyed, and fine twisted linen: all of which suit him most aptly. blue, purple For with all desire he always sought heavenly things, which are signified by the blue: ready for the name of Christ even unto martyrdom, which is understood in the purple: burning with the love of God and of neighbor, which is expressed by the scarlet twice-dyed. scarlet twice-dyed, fine linen Just as fine linen, dug from the earth, is accustomed by the long exercise of drying, pounding, purging, boiling, and spinning to lose its grassy color and to receive into itself a white color; so he himself, sweating out, as it were, the native moisture with the great labor of continence, attained to the beauty of purity worthy of God by the diligent assiduity of fasting, vigils, prayers, reading, patience, and humility. With all of these he had bells intermingled: because rarely was anything else heard from him than the most sweet sound of the aforesaid virtues, which in turn was commended to the minds of his hearers by the sublimity of his works: as the following text of this little work will more clearly show concerning him.
NotesCHAPTER 3
A Soul Freed from Purgatory by His Fasting. The Death of Saint Anschar.
[10] While he was still in the service of his predecessor, the Lord Anschar, In order to free a Priest from Purgatory the Priest Arnulphus, already long deceased, appeared to him, and to him inquiring about his condition in the life of the next world, he sorrowfully replied: "While I was still in the flesh," he said, "I acted negligently concerning the salvation of my soul, not keeping the gravity befitting my position, being more often at leisure in idleness, and sometimes even eating meat on a declared fast day, and likewise frequently indulging in other forbidden things in food and drink; for such offenses I have been unworthy until now to come into the presence of God. If your brotherhood," he said, "content with bread and salt and water, would be willing to make an abstinence of forty days from other foods on my behalf, he lives on bread and water for 40 days I believe that I would then be freed through God's mercy from this sentence or punishment of my rejection." When he, as it seemed to him, thus promised that he would do this, he was awakened from sleep, and as soon as he was able to speak to the Bishop, he set forth the entire vision to him: and having received his counsel, for the whole space of forty days he used no other food or drink than bread and water only. During the same time he was afflicted with such a toothache that he could not bear to have bread ground for his refreshment by his own teeth. he is afflicted by toothache Wherefore, crushing and grinding the bread into crumbs, or rubbing it with his hands, he mixed it into the water itself, and softened it somewhat after the manner of porridge for the relief of his teeth: in which also, as an increase of his abstinence, those qualities that could be present in a simple decoction of bread were greatly diminished, namely the strength of nourishment and the sweetness and pleasure of taste. When, however, the days of this abstinence had been completed, the same Priest, for whom these things were being done, appeared in a vision to a certain woman who had been lying paralyzed for many days, named Helahwih: whose long infirmity had indeed burdened her limbs; but yet, as Blessed Gregory says of a certain person, that same infirmity did not bind her members from good work: he is not puffed up by visions for having herself carried to the Church daily, she delighted to hear the word of life there, and to devote herself to hymns and praises, as far as she could, day and night. To her, as has been said, the aforesaid Priest, appearing in a vision, asked that thanks be returned to the servant of God, Rembert, for the frugality performed on behalf of his salvation: and he declared that it had profited him so much that the access to the sight of God, previously denied to him, and the entrance to the heavenly court, were established to have been granted through this. "Rembert himself, however," he said, "shall be inscribed among those of whom it is said: 'The just shall shine and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds' Wisdom 3:7; and of whom the Psalmist says: 'They shall go from virtue to virtue.'" Psalm 84:8 By visions of this kind the man of God was never accustomed to be at all puffed up in spirit, but always walking in the safest path of humility, he daily ascended the steps of the virtues in such a way that he seemed always to attend to the often-cited saying of Blessed Gregory: "Let each one of us, brothers, strive to be great, but yet in some way not know that he is great, lest, while he arrogantly attributes greatness to himself, he lose it." Homily 7 on the Gospels
[11] Therefore, as long as the Lord Anschar was in the body, this servant of God, Rembert, was accustomed to be more familiarly present to him in all things before all others, concerning whom the mention has several times fallen to us in this little work, as the book of the deeds of the aforesaid Bishop, published by Rembert himself and another fellow disciple of his, attests: The most faithful disciple in which book, wherever mention is made of a certain most faithful disciple of his, which the reader will find frequently there, let him know it is Rembert himself. But because, as we have said, he was the editor of those same deeds together with a certain other person, for that reason he wished to express the truth of the matter with his own name suppressed, lest he should seem boastfully to put forward a more familiar grace concerning himself. For thus also the blessed Evangelist John did in his Gospel, where he always preferred to indicate his own person by circumstantial signs rather than to designate himself by his proper name. How far, moreover, the holy man Rembert persevered in this place of devotion in familiar companionship with the Bishop, is known from the words of the aforesaid book, in which the passing of the Lord Bishop is thus commemorated: "Having received," it says, "the communion of the Lord's Body and Blood, the holy Bishop implored the Lord that, if anyone had in any way sinned against him, the Divine mercy would remit it to him. Then he began more frequently to repeat these verses: Psalm 25:7 'According to Your mercy, remember me for Your goodness' sake, O Lord'; and, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner'; and, 'Into Your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.' Luke 18:13; Psalm 31:6 And when he was repeating these more often, and could no longer recite them with frequent panting; he renders the last prayers to the dying Saint Anschar he commanded a certain Brother to sing these frequently in his stead: and so, with his eyes intent upon heaven, he breathed out his spirit commended to the grace of the Lord." This one, therefore, whom he commanded to recite the words of prayer in his stead, was Rembert: to whom the Bishop, commending the words of his vow as his speech failed, believed that he compensated through him whatever he himself, now dying, could no longer accomplish in prayers: since both on account of the merit of his life he did not doubt that he would be heard by God on his behalf, and what the other did he did not distinguish from what would have been done by himself: because one heart and one soul, one spirit and one faith, were always in them.
[12] Finally, when during the very illness in which he departed this life, counsel was sought from the Lord Anschar concerning the election of his successor, and they inquired also concerning Rembert, what he thought, he is reported to have responded that it was not his office to decide this: because perhaps he himself had offended the minds of many in the Episcopate, which he ought rather to have corrected; since by the very fact that he himself should designate such a person for the succession, he would increase the disturbance of minds, he is declared by him more fit for the Episcopate as such a person might perhaps burden his subjects with his arrangements, and bitter complaints against him might arise on that account. "Concerning the merits of Rembert, however," he said, "let it be known that he is more worthy of the Archiepiscopal office than I am of the office of subdeacon." These things the holy Bishop pursued concerning himself with the intention of great humility; as a true observer of that Rule of Blessed Benedict, which he himself had once held in the perfection of monks, which says: chapter 7 "The seventh degree of humility is if a monk not only pronounce himself lower than all others with his tongue, but also believe it with the innermost affection of his heart, humbling himself and saying with the Prophet: 'But I am a worm and not a man.'" Psalm 22:7 For holy men are accustomed, when they do great things, to think lowly of themselves, according to what David himself said of himself while dancing before the Ark of the Lord, despising the power of his kingdom: "I will play and will become yet more vile than I have been, and I will be lowly in my own eyes." 2 Samuel 6:22; Philippians 2:2 Concerning whom the Apostle also admonishes, saying: "Fulfill my joy, that you be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, doing nothing through contention or vain glory, but in humility each esteeming others better than themselves." Of which the former, his great humility that is, the testimony of the Prophet, the blessed man Anschar was accustomed so to observe in himself that, thinking lowly of himself within, he did not seek honor outwardly, as if saying: "I will play and will become more vile." Nor in turn, by the fact that he outwardly presented himself as vile, would he swell inwardly, rather fulfilling what follows: "And I will be lowly in my own eyes"; that is, such as I outwardly show myself in my own disregard, such do I inwardly regard myself. By this intention of self-contempt he also fulfilled what we have cited from the Apostle, so that, free of all contention and vain glory, through humility he considered others superior to himself. Whence it is also written above that he gave such strong testimony to the blessed man Rembert as being of greater merit than himself. But although he said such things about himself on account of humility, it is nevertheless not for us to prefer either one of them to the other; but to believe that they were equal in merits, whom both the devotion of one faith and the administration of the same office, though at different times, commend equally.
d Saint Thiadricus, called by others Theodericus, Bishop of Minden, was killed in the year 880. We have treated of him on February 2, section 4. Saint Thiadricus. Adalgarius, Abbot. Saint Luttendis or Luttradis.
e Adalgarius, third Abbot of New Corvey, was appointed in the year 856 according to the ancient catalogue of the Abbots of Corvey, and in 864 he transferred the relics of Saint Luttendis to his monastery. She appears to be called by others Lutrudis, a nun, who is recorded in the ancient Martyrology of Cologne, the German Martyrology, and others as being venerated at Corvey on September 22. New Corvey was discussed on January 2 in the Life of Saint Adalard the Founder, and on February 3 in chapter 1 of the Life of Saint Anschar.
f We have shown above in section 4 that these words are interpolated.
g The Decrees of Gregory IV and Nicholas I, issued on February 3, are meant.
h The Budecensis manuscript reads "sortitur."
i Luidbert, called by others Ludibert and Lindbert, was ordained Archbishop of Mainz in the year 863; to him, since Cologne belonged to Lothar the nephew, Luidbert, Archbishop of Mainz he was sent. For on this side of the Rhine, Mainz with Worms and Speyer fell to Louis in the division.
k Lindward -- in the Hamburg manuscript he is Luidhard, in Surius Linduard, in Brusch Luithatius and Luthard -- was Bishop of Paderborn, Lindward, Bishop of Paderborn concerning whom we have treated on February 2, because he is numbered by some among the Martyrs of Ebbekestorp. See sections 4 and 5.
l These matters are exaggerated; Obius was requested from the Archbishop of Cologne before Pope Formosus for the Bishopric of Bremen. We have cited the very letters of Formosus addressed to Adalgarius on February 3, section 20.
m Hence the catalogue of the Abbots of Corvey in Letzner must be corrected, where the same Abbot is said to have been raised to the Archbishopric.
n He died thereafter in the year 909.
o These are the words of Saint Augustine, Book 2 of the Questions on the Gospels, chapter 2.
p The Hospital of Bremen, established by Saint Anschar and nobly augmented by Saint Rembert, is reported by Adam, chapter 38, Hospital at Bremen and Albert at the year 882; that it was later converted into a college of Canons, with the church dedicated to Saint Anschar, we have stated before his Life, section 13.
CHAPTER V
Chastity commended by Saint Rembert to nuns. His zeal for souls.
[19] Meanwhile, in accordance with the admonition of Blessed Gregory, also dispensing the alms of the word unceasingly, he devoted himself continually to the pursuit of salutary teaching, recalling what the same Doctor says: Assiduous in preaching that it is a greater thing for the mind, which is destined to live forever, to be nourished with the food of the word, than for the belly of mortal flesh to be satisfied with earthly bread. Homily 6 on the Gospels For this reason he made an Excerpt useful for readers from the books of Saint Gregory and wrote it out in his own hand, and composed several letters full of edification to various persons, one of which is addressed to a certain handmaid of God established in the monastery called Heresi, and to the other Sisters residing there in the service of God. Now this handmaid of God of whom we speak was the niece of the venerable Bishop Luithard, whom we mentioned above, who bound himself to the holy man with every affection of devotion, so that not only did he himself strive to be a lover of his holiness, a letter written but he also endeavored to commend to him all those who in any way pertained to himself -- especially this woman of whom we speak, his niece, who had been offered to God from infancy and remained in virginity. She also by her own devotion merited that the holy man was accustomed to call her the sole daughter of his affection; and although she does not wish her name to be publicly disclosed for the sake of avoiding vainglory, commending to nuns we have nevertheless decided to set forth here, for the edification of the sacred Virgins, this letter -- though with the name of her to whom it was written suppressed -- which reads as follows.
[20] "To his dearest daughter and to the other Virgins and brides of Christ, Rembert, a lowly servant of the flock of God, sends greeting in the Lord. Brother Adelgarius, recently returning from you, told me that you bear it grievously that you so rarely receive letters from my humble self. As I now desire to amend this, and consider what I ought to write, nothing more fitting occurs to me than to remind you of the purpose of your holy vocation. chastity If, therefore, you wish to attain the most sublime glory, you must cultivate the incorruption of body and spirit with every virtue: for it is necessary that the chastity of the outer person be sustained by the inner warmth and nourishment of purity, and be continually animated toward perseverance in perpetual incorruption. For those are the true and incorrupt Virgins to be preserved in humility -- not those who are afraid, but those for whom it is simply not possible to commit fornication. If you perceive that you have obtained this gift through the grace of God, then the greater you are, as sacred Scripture admonishes, humble yourselves in all things, and you shall find grace before God. Sirach 3:20 For you must come to Christ the Lord and your Spouse by that way, because He Himself said: 'Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.' Matthew 11:29 Care must therefore be taken that the mind be guarded with all vigilance from the swelling of pride: for our thoughts do not pass empty before the eyes of God. Therefore God sees inwardly what exalts the mind, and for this very reason permits that to prevail outwardly which may cast it down. For He says through Hosea against the Israelites: 'The spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord.' Hosea 5:4 And to show, as Blessed Gregory says, that the cause of lust springs forth from the fault of pride, He immediately added, saying: 'And the arrogance of Israel shall answer in his face.' As if He were to say: The fault that lay hidden through the pride of the mind shall answer openly through the wantonness of the flesh. Book 26 on Job, chapter 18 Therefore the purity of chastity must be guarded through the custody of humility. For if the spirit is kept subject under God, the flesh is not unlawfully raised above the spirit. For the spirit holds a dominion over the flesh entrusted to it, provided it recognizes the rights of lawful servitude under God. For if it despises its Author through pride, it justly receives battle from the subject flesh. Hence it is that long continence is suddenly dissolved; hence it is that virginity preserved even unto old age is frequently corrupted. For because humility of heart is neglected, the righteous Judge despises even the integrity of the body, and at some point through open evil declares those to be reprobate whom He had long tolerated as reprobate in secret. For he who suddenly lost a good long preserved held within himself another evil, from which the other suddenly burst forth: and through this he stood estranged from almighty God even at the time when he showed himself adhering to Him through purity of body.
[21] These things, therefore, daughters, I write not because I have discerned anything of the character of pride or vainglory in you; but because I desire you to be in the company of those of whom they are worthy of whom it is written: 'Because they follow the Lamb wherever He goes.' Revelation 14:4 Where I grieve that many have fallen, I desire that you walk cautiously, and I pray that the Lord and your Spouse may say to you: 'You are all beautiful, my beloved, and there is no blemish in you.' Song of Songs 4:7 Therefore follow the Lamb in His precepts, that with His help you may be able to follow Him into eternal life, singing the song that no one can utter except the choir of virgins. On Holy Virginity, chapter 27 These things Blessed Augustine beautifully expounded in admonishing Virgins: 'Go forth,' he says, 'O holy ones of God, boys and girls, men and women, celibate and unmarried -- go forth, persevering unto the end: praise the Lord more sweetly, whom you have contemplated more richly: hope more happily, whom you serve more earnestly: love more ardently, whom you please more attentively: with loins girded and lamps burning, await the Lord let them follow the Lamb when He comes from the wedding. You shall bring to the Lamb's wedding a new song, which you shall sing upon your harps; such a song, assuredly, as no one can utter but you. For so he saw in the Apocalypse -- one beloved above all others by the Lamb, who was accustomed to recline upon the Lord's breast -- he saw you, twelve times twelve thousand holy harpists of inviolate virginity in body, of inviolate truth in heart. Revelation 14:2 Follow the Lamb, for the flesh of the Lamb is assuredly virgin. Follow Him in virginity of heart and flesh wherever He goes. For what is it to follow, if not to imitate? Concerning whom Blessed Peter says: Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His footsteps.' 1 Peter 2:21"
We have placed this letter here so that it may be apparent to readers how great was his zeal, as the Apostle admonishes, for the teaching which is according to godliness, and how powerful he was in that same teaching to exhort others as well. 1 Timothy 6:3
[22] Moreover, he diligently executed the office of his legation, which was first undertaken from his predecessor for preaching the word of God to the Gentiles, and afterward came to him by right of succession as though by inheritance. He himself was personally engaged in that legation as often as other occupations permitted, but he always had appointed Presbyters he converts the Gentiles through whom the Gentiles might hear the word of God and the captive Christians might receive consolation, at churches established among the Pagans themselves, far from the church of his See, and -- what was most grievous -- accessible only through maritime perils: which perils he himself endured more frequently and more abundantly, often, amid the greatest dangers as the Apostle testifies of himself, suffering shipwreck, and often he was so close to disaster that he could say with the same Apostle: "A night and a day I was in the deep of the sea." 2 Corinthians 11:25 But assuredly the Holy Spirit was present with him, who in the corruption of the outer man renewed the inner man from day to day, and with the hope of future blessedness softened all the hardships of the present life and lightened its burdens. For he consoled himself with the continual meditation of the Apostle's words: "For the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us." Romans 8:18 And so, whatever things were harsh for him in his labor, they were accustomed to grow mild for one enduring the same things for Christ's sake.
Annotationsa The name is omitted by Surius, Adam chapter 38, and Krantz, Book 2 of the Metropolis, chapter 11. Heresi is otherwise called Nova Herisia, commonly Nienheerse, a college of canonesses at a distance of three hours' journey from the city of Paderborn in the highlands, that is, the ridges Nienheerse monastery by which the diocese of Paderborn is divided into Cis-Silvan and Trans-Silvan territories.
b She is perhaps the one whom Brusch calls the sister of Luithard and the foundress of this convent, Lady Walburgis, a perpetual virgin. Walburgis of Nienheerse Wion and Ferrarius number her among the Saints and record her on February 25, on which day Saint Walburgis the English Abbess of Heidenheim is venerated: with whom we suspect she is confused by them, as we shall say in that place. But Matthaeus Merian, in his Topography of Westphalia, treating of the city of Paderborn, reports that the nun Helintrudis is venerated in that monastery. Helintrudis
c Chiefly to the Danes and the Swedes, concerning whom we have treated on February 3.
d Saint Anschar had erected churches at Schleswig and Ribe in Denmark, and at Birka in Sweden, to which Rembert may have added others.
e Such a peril is described in the Life of Saint Anschar, number 16.
CHAPTER VI
Captives redeemed by Saint Rembert. His gentleness and miracles.
[23] When nearly all his possessions had been expended on the redemption of captives, he frees captives since he was compelled to witness the misery of many still detained among the Pagans, he did not hesitate to devote even the vessels of the altar to their redemption. at the cost of sacred vessels In this matter, when it seemed to certain persons of less elevated understanding that he had not acted rightly -- as though he were turning to other uses what had been dedicated to sacred ministries -- and he was asked by a certain man why he did so, he satisfied the questioner with a just reason, saying: "I am not unaware that the properties of Ecclesiastical office must be treated with dignity, and that they have been deposited under a great obligation for this purpose. Yet it is a greater thing in the sight of God to succor captive Christians placed in distress through these things, than to guard them as a deposit: and if the necessity has arisen of choosing one of two goods and doing without the other, one must embrace what is better and relinquish what is held to be lesser. Wherefore," he said, "since I have no other recourse, I do not act impiously if I redeem a Christian, who is a child of God, with the treasures of the Church: for we can always find what suffices for the use of the sacred ministry; but it is an irreparable loss if a Christian perishes in the affliction of captivity."
[24] By way of example, let us recall one of his deeds of this kind, in which he shone no less in the power of a miracle than in the work of mercy. When he had come on a certain occasion to the regions of the Danes, where he had a church built for the newly-established Christianity in the place called Schleswig, he saw a multitude of chained Christian captives: among whom a certain nun, as soon as she caught sight of him from afar, he redeems a nun appeared both to venerate him with genuflection and frequent bowing of the head, and to beg his mercy for her redemption; and so that he might understand she had been a Christian, she raised her voice and began to sing the Psalms. the chain broken by prayers The Bishop, moved with compassion, prayed with tears that she might be divinely assisted: at his prayers the chain was immediately broken from her neck by which she was bound. But lest she should escape, the Pagans, holding her in their hands, easily retained her. Then the holy Bishop, moved by anxious concern for her, began to offer the Pagans holding her many payments of various kinds for her ransom, but they would accept no terms unless he gave his horse, which he was accustomed to use for traveling to his own residence. a horse offered Not refusing to do this, he immediately leaped down from his horse and, with all the trappings he had upon it, gave it in exchange for the captive, and having redeemed her, restored her to liberty and permitted her to go wherever she wished -- leaving, as we have said, a twofold memorial of praise concerning himself through this deed: that both by the power of his prayer he broke the chain, and at the same time he demonstrated this remarkable work of mercy.
[25] Moreover, in accordance with the precept of the Apostle, who commands the servant of the Lord to be gentle to all, he so lived that in his times no one so closely resembled that Mosaic model as he -- who is described as having been the meekest of all men. 2 Timothy 2:24 Sometimes, however, without any detriment to that same gentleness, he remained so steadfast and firm in his judgment when inquiring into or examining causes, gentle that he could be deflected by no one to a different course. Numbers 12:3 That this was done, as we have said, without detriment to his gentleness was so truly fulfilled in him that he never displayed any agitation of anger or disturbance toward those who contradicted him, nor did he act against them with harsh words. affable Rather, through familiar conversations and a pleasing manner of self-restraint, he amiably carried out whatever he intended with all people. Yet concerning the inflexibility of mind that was in him, when questioned more intimately by a certain person, he explained the matters that follow: "Whatever I must do or omit," he said, "or concerning all future events, I always take a presage from the visions of the Lord and of my predecessor Anschar. For he is accustomed to appear to me and, by the expression of his countenance, to show me how I ought to involve myself in the affairs to be transacted: and whatever I perceive from him, I cannot make any dissimulation in carrying it out."
[26] He is also reported, after the manner of the ancient Saints, to have frequently performed certain miracles -- namely, that while traveling to Sweden, he calmed a tempest of the sea by his prayers; he illumines a blind man by the Sacrament of Confirmation that he restored sight to the eyes of a certain blind man through the Confirmation which he administered in the episcopal manner with sacred chrism upon him; and also that he is said to have freed a certain son of the King from a demon. To this assertion the following also seems to give support: that in the presence of many Bishops standing by, a cry repeatedly issued from the mouth of the possessed man, testifying that Rembert alone among them had worthily performed the office entrusted to him, he works miracles and that he himself was a torment to the speaker of those words. Psalm 12:2 But because in our times, as the Psalmist says, "the holy one has failed, and truths are diminished among the children of men," and it is not readily accepted that any of the men of our day has performed such things, let it suffice that we have thus far demonstrated that this man of the Lord ascended the summit of holiness through those species of virtues which the Lord in the Gospel proposes for the attainment of blessedness: "Blessed," He says, "are the poor in spirit," and so forth -- from that catalogue of eight virtues by which is signified the perfection of our hope to be fulfilled through the grace of the Resurrection. Matthew 5:3 Nor were spiritual miracles lacking to him, which even now Blessed Gregory testifies are performed in the Church by the faithful, in expounding the Lord's words that say: Homily 29 on the Gospels "And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out demons, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover." Mark 16:17-18 But to run through the exposition of the aforesaid Doctor on each of these points would be lengthy and unnecessary, since the Homily containing them is readily available; and so, directing the Reader to it, we must bring to completion the work we have begun on the Life of the Lord Rembert.
[27] When he had now begun to be weighed down by old age, a continual pain in his feet also added to his affliction. Wherefore, he obtains Adalgarius as Coadjutor and successor first with the glorious King Louis, at whose commendation he had received the bishopric, and afterward with his sons Louis and Charles, he obtained this: that the distinguished man Adelgarius, a monk of New Corvey, as we have related above, who had been assigned to him, should be confirmed as his assistant in such a manner that, whenever any infirmity should hinder him, he might have in Adelgarius the comfort of making the rounds of the diocese, attending assemblies, and, when required, setting forth on expeditions or to the palace with his retinue; and not long afterward he obtained that Adelgarius be confirmed as his elected successor, and through the ceremony of commendation become the King's man and be placed among his Counselors -- with the assent of the Abbot and Brethren of his monastery, and with a holy synod ratifying all these things.
Annotationsa Adam, having related the same matters in chapter 34, adds that he used to say with Blessed Ambrose: "It is better to preserve souls for the Lord than gold." Precious, therefore, are those vessels which redeem souls from death. Concerning the Norman incursions, we have treated above, as on February 2 and 3.
b The Budecensis manuscript reads "Schleswich," the Cologne manuscript "Slesvick," the Hamburg manuscript "Sliasvich." We treated of this on February 3, section 10.
c Cyprius, Book 1 of the History of Schleswig, chapter 4, erroneously attributes what follows to the entire multitude of captives.
d The Cologne manuscript reads "memorabile."
e The Cologne manuscript reads: "in the Mosaic model, he himself was likened to Moses, who was a man," etc.
f The same Cologne manuscripts read "Suecia" and "Suetia," names which are not found in use in that age.
g He is believed to be Charles the Fat, later Emperor, son of Louis who was then King, whom the Annals of Fulda and Bertinian record Charles the Fat, possessed by a demon as having confessed that in many conspiracies against his father he had been handed over to an adverse power, at the year 873; likewise Adam chapter 37, Albert of Stade at the year 876, Krantz Book 2 of the Metropolis chapter 10, and the author of the Merian Fasti on this February 4 in the eulogy of Saint Rembert. We have treated of the same above, section 4.
h Upon the death of the elder Louis in the year 876, his son Louis succeeded in Franconia and Saxony, Kings of Germany and upon the latter's death in 882, his brother Charles the Fat, previously King of Alemannia, then Emperor and King of Western France; the German kingdom having passed to Arnulf, son of his brother Carloman, in the year 887, Charles died on the Ides of January of the year 888, as the Annals of Fulda precisely relate.
i The Hamburg manuscript reads "circandi."
CHAPTER VII
Illness. Death. Burial.
[28] After these things, as though relieved of secular affairs, he strove every day with all earnestness to increase whatever good he had previously practiced. Nor did he endure much longer in this life, and his passing to the Lord is reported to have occurred in the following manner. Nearly a full year before the day of his death, he privately intimated to certain of his faithful that many signs had been shown to him by which he foreknew that he would not long remain in this life. And since he would no longer see in this life those to whom he was speaking, he said: "Certain presages of this matter have come to me, which it is not now permitted to reveal to others; yet I relate to you a vision shown to me this night, by which I understand most clearly that my departure has been prefigured. He foretells his own death For it seemed to me that in a certain church, intercepted through the middle by a most solid wall, I was on one side of the wall, while on the other side the Lord and my predecessor Anschar was held; and I beheld an innumerable multitude of both sexes, forewarned by a vision turning this way and that in the manner of those seeking something, and they could find nothing of what they sought. To them the Lord Anschar said: 'What do you seek?' And they, responding that they were seeking my ring, heard from the Bishop again that they should cease seeking it, because he himself was going to have it with him." As the Lord Rembert related these things to certain persons, as we have said, he asserted from this and many other indications that he was certain he would depart this life in that same year. And so that his memory might be more firmly impressed upon the minds of his hearers through the words he would speak in departing, he gave them salutary admonitions about that which he knew was also cherished by them, his words flowing with no small grace of edification. After this, bidding them farewell, he departed from them, and they never saw him again, as he himself had foretold. How this dream which we have just related was fulfilled with manifest effect in his death and burial, just as he himself had understood, we shall fittingly narrate in the place where we must commemorate how his soul was raised up to heaven and how his body was consigned to burial.
[29] On the twelfth day before his passing, therefore, arriving at the Church of Bremen, he was seized by illness on that very day: and as the illness grew gravely worse with every hour, he himself, ever intent upon psalmody and sacred readings, pious in sickness diligently prepared himself for the coming departure from this life; and although the enormity of his ailment brought failure to his bodily powers, yet always unconquered in spirit, he displayed the Apostolic fortitude of which he says: "When I am weak, then I am strong and powerful." 2 Corinthians 12:10 On the seventh day before his death he ordered the mystery of sacred anointing with holy oil to be administered to him, and together with the communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord he received this saving remedy every day until the day when his soul departed from the body. he is anointed, he communicates daily And when he was about to depart from the world, having summoned the Presbyters and all the Brethren, he asked pardon for whatever he might perhaps have sinned against any of them. And when he in turn had made reconciliation with all Christians, by whomever anything might have been committed against him, and had begged pardon for them from the Lord, having received the Body and Blood of the Lord he sent forth his sacred soul. Then an incredible lamentation from all followed, he dies especially from the poor, who amid their weeping uttered these words: "Woe to us, holy Father! How shall we now live after you? Sustained until now by your alms in food and clothing, from whom shall we henceforth deserve these things?" "But to you," they said, "we supplicate, O Christ, that the soul of your servant may now perceive you mindful of your words, by which you deigned to promise that whatever anyone had done for one of your least ones by way of consolation in your name would be repaid by you." Matthew 25:40
[30] The man of God himself, while he yet lived, had commanded out of humility that he should not be buried in the church. Not daring to transgress this command, the Brethren of that church buried him outside the basilica, near the tomb of Saint Willehad outside the eastern wall of the church; and this sepulchre was afterward he is buried outside the church adorned by Adelgarius, of whom we spoke above and who succeeded the holy man in the episcopate, by building over it a small oratory dedicated in honor of Saint Michael and the holy Martyrs Stephen and Vitus. And thus the vision mentioned above concerning his and the Lord Anschar's confinement in one church was fulfilled -- though they were separated from one another by the interposition of a middle wall. For the aforesaid small oratory is contiguous with the aforesaid ancient church, with only its eastern wall blocking passage from one to the other; and in this new oratory, as we have said, the Lord Rembert is buried, while in the ancient Church the Lord Anschar rests. The vision is fulfilled. And this is what Anschar himself appeared to say in that vision: that he would have the ring of the Lord Rembert with him -- since the Lord Rembert, having been perfected through faith and good works, was soon to be joined with him not long after, both in the proximity of the sepulchre and in the reception of blessed repose, just as Anschar himself, by the revelation of the Divine Spirit, had foretold. For by the ring, faith is signified, by which the image of God is imprinted upon us. And because the hands, by which action is designated, are customarily adorned by it, through this it is rightly shown that good works must always accompany the ornament of faith. Because the Lord Rembert always exhibited this in his manner of life to those committed to his charge, it was rightly shown in the presage of his death that the multitude of the people was seen seeking his ring: by which it was signified that at the time of his death those who had been committed to him anxiously desired still to enjoy the examples they had perceived in him; but the time of his rest demanded that this could no longer be so, which Bishop Anschar, restraining the people from seeking the ring, signified when he said it would be kept with him.
[31] A wooden lamp was also suspended above his sepulchre, so that a continual light might be maintained there; A wooden lamp burns, the veil unharmed and beneath it, on the surface of the sepulchre, a veil lay spread out, upon which a remarkable miracle is reported to have occurred, which, insofar as we retain it from the account of those who narrated it, either in memory or understanding, happened as follows. It came to pass on a certain night that the same lamp caught fire, and first many burning coals fell from it upon the aforesaid veil, and immediately afterward the entire lamp fell as well, and it burned completely upon that same veil without any damage to the veil itself. No one should doubt that Christ did this to declare the merits of His servant -- He who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns as God through all ages of ages, Amen.
Annotationsa The Hamburg and Cologne manuscripts read "Twelve days."
b Concerning the body of Saint Willehad, translated by Saint Anschar, we have treated before this Life, section 13.
c The cult of Saint Vitus, on account of the relics translated to Corvey, was greatly promoted throughout the North by the monks of Corvey, Saint Vitus as will be said on June 15.
d In the Budecensis manuscript there was added "a holy man."
e The subscriptions of Bishops that were appended in Philippus Caesar have been elucidated by us in section 11 before the Life of Saint Anschar.