Cuthman

ON SAINT CUTHMAN, CONFESSOR, AT STEYNING IN NORMANDY.

Cuthmanus, Confessor, at Steyning in Gaul (Saint)

I. B.

[1] The monastery of Fecamp, as Glaber Rodulphus writes in Book 4 of his History, chapter 4, established in the regions of Neustria above the Ocean, is distant from the city of Rouen by nearly forty miles, namely between Dieppe and Le Havre; first built by Saint Waning, then restored by Saint William of Dijon around the year of Christ 1000, as we said in his Life on January 1 and the latter's on the 9th. To it pertains (or at least formerly pertained) the village which they call Steyning, At Steyning in Normandy with ^a church once built by Saint Cuthman and ennobled by his miracles and relics. The English, when they still possessed Normandy, are reported to have given it to that monastery. It is said to have been erected into ^a Priory of the Order of Saint Benedict — whether by the Fecamp monks themselves or before it was theirs, we have not ascertained. The founder and builder of the church, Saint Cuthman, Saint Cuthman is venerated on February 8, or Cutman, commonly Cutmen, is venerated there on February 8.

[2] We have received ^a twofold copy of his Life: one from Paris by Andrew Chesne, Cosmographer of Louis XIII, the other from Rouen by our Frederick Flouet, Whence is his Life published here? both copied from Fecamp codices, but different ones; for the Flouet copy is here and there mutilated and differs in certain words.

[3] When Saint Cuthman lived is not reported. If he was truly English and not ^a Briton from Cornwall or the neighboring region, it may seem credible his age. that he came to Gaul in the ninth century of Christ, or rather the tenth, when the Normans had already been converted to the faith.

LIFE BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR

From two ancient MSS.

Cuthmanus, Confessor, at Steyning in Gaul (Saint)

BHL Number: 2035

By an anonymous author, from MSS.

CHAPTER I

The holy youth and filial piety of Saint Cuthman.

[1] Blessed Cuthman, as has come to the knowledge of moderns from the truthful account of the ancients, Saint Cuthman, an Englishman was born of most Christian parents in the southern parts of England; who, ^a few days after his birth from the womb of his mother, was reborn from the womb of the divine font, and then, after ^a short interval of time, was confirmed by the impression of holy anointing. When the years of boyhood had innocently elapsed, having become ^a youth of good character, he advanced in age and grace before God as ^a boy he is trained in piety: and men. His earthly father, from infancy, placed upon him the yoke of the Heavenly Father, impressing upon him the fear of God and promising him many good things if he piously worshipped God. Nor was the grace of God lacking to the docile boy; but inwardly, in the ears of the mind, the voice of the Heavenly Father sufficiently inspired what the earthly father outwardly taught in the ear of the body. It was then ^a delight to pious eyes to behold ^a man younger in age but older in understanding, tender in boyish years but mature in the gravity of his character. For although he was flourishing in the most pleasant youth before the world, the world had already withered in his heart; which, as it were collapsing, together with its fading bloom, he despised. Whence also he did not embrace the wantonness of mind and body, in youth most pure, in which youthful age is accustomed to be entangled, but walking simply in the manner he had learned from his father, he studiously took care to avoid the blandishments of the world.

[2] As time went on, he received his father's cattle to pasture at his father's command, going out with them and returning solicitously at the bidding of the one who entrusted them. And when one day Cuthman was engaged in keeping the cattle safe in the pasture, the hour for the midday meal arrived, he pastures his father's cattle, at which he was obliged to return home by his father's command. But since he could not conveniently, nor did he dare without his father's permission, abandon his flock, and he lacked ^a substitute guardian, with his pastoral staff, which he carried in his hand, he made ^a circle around his flock, saying: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, O flock, I command you not to go beyond these boundaries he commands them to stay within certain limits in his absence, which I have set for you before my return." A wonderful thing: the cattle, lacking reason, understood the power of so great an invocation, and did not dare in the least to go beyond the limits set. Cuthman went and returned, giving thanks to God that he found his flock unharmed. And he did so every day, and this frequently when ^a similar necessity compelled him to turn aside from the flock. Moreover, in the place of pasture there was ^a stone upon which the holy shepherd was accustomed to sit, which is held in great veneration by the natives to this day, he sits on ^a stone, afterward famous for miracles: because the Lord conferred many blessings through it by the merits of the aforesaid shepherd.

[3] The Lord, therefore, wishing the man whom He loved to ascend the citadel of greater grace, arranged to exercise him with adversities, so that he who had previously been meek and humble of heart in prosperity might also fight in adversity against the crafty enemy with the weapons of patience, he is tested by adversities: in order that He might thereupon heap upon him, well deserving, more excellent gifts. When his father died, therefore, Cuthman soothed the grief of his mother — which was great — not so much by the exhortation of pious speech as by the effect of devout action. He applied himself diligently in the care and office of serving, becoming for her the staff of her old age and the light of her eyes, he serves his mother; never failing to be present to his mother — he who, made ^a son by carnal generation, was ^a father in solicitude, ^a most devoted brother in the profession of one faith, and ^a humble servant and minister in his dutiful service. He, seeing that devotion responded well to the mother's merits, since he never felt filial solicitude to be lacking for his mother's need, and that to no avail regarding the repelling of bodily want...

[4] When therefore some years had elapsed and the temporal goods which his father had left were spent, the mother began to tend toward poverty, and — what is more pitiable — ^a most grievous illness attacked her, already worn out by great old age, and carries his sick and poor mother about as ^a beggar: which deprived all her limbs of their proper functions. Cuthman, compassionate of his mother's suffering, inasmuch as she became more wearisome so that ^a son might abandon her, was all the more affectionate in serving her. The good man devised ^a new manner of providing help — so that what the scarcity of wealth denied, the benefit of skill might supply. He fashioned indeed ^a wooden bed, in which he placed the ailing woman, which, hanging by ^a rope from his shoulders, preceded him by the impulse and guidance of his hands with the aid of ^a wheel going before. In this bed he always carried his mother before him, walking beneath it; and commending himself entirely to Divine disposition, he left his own home and fatherland.

[5] Proceeding therefore, Cuthman, with his burden no less than burdensome, toward the eastern regions, made his passage through ^a meadow in which certain men were cutting grass with ^a scythe. And there, by ^a chance occurrence, the rope by whose aid the bed was carried suddenly broke, and at first the simple man was astonished, uncertain what to do. But afterward, acting with confidence, he took ^a twig from an elder bush which he saw standing nearby, he uses an elder twig for ^a rope: twisted it, and supplied the deficiency of the former cord. Seeing this, those aforementioned men mocked him as ^a fool, since the elder is ^a fragile wood, more easily admitting breakage than bending, and is not accustomed to serve such ^a function. The wretches did not realize what they were soon about to witness — that laughter will be mingled with sorrow, and grief overtakes the extremes of joy. Still the exultation of vanity was resounding in their throats; still the laughter had not departed from their mouths; when suddenly, the serenity of the air being disturbed, such ^a deluge of rain descended that they bore upon themselves the sign of God's wrath and vengeance. Their business being left undone, each hastened to return home, and in their excessive desire to hurry, speed itself seemed slow to them as they fled. those who mock him are punished by an annual rain disturbing the harvest. And lest it be said to have happened by chance, or this change of weather be imputed to atmospheric conditions rather than ascribed to Divine vengeance, beyond the loss of the hay, which then became useless — like the mockers of the prophet Elisha — their posterity laments their laughter, rain descending each year at the time of the mowing of that same meadow even to this day.

CHAPTER II

The Church of Steyning built by Saint Cuthman, not without miracles.

[6] When therefore Cuthman saw that the Lord had rendered vengeance upon his enemies, with thanksgiving he vowed ^a vow to God, that he would not give rest to his days he vows ^a church to God, until he should find ^a place for the Lord where he might build ^a tabernacle for His name; and he established this sign for himself, saying that in whatever place that elder cord should break, there he would build ^a church in honor of the Lord, and he would appear there before His face, remaining there continually. And having said this, he set forth from that place. He went along his way, poor and needy, and sustained the poverty of his wretched mother by the labor of carrying her and by begging.

[7] At length, after innumerable hardships of hunger and thirst, after the troublesome miseries of manifold weariness, with the Lord leading, he arrived at the place which we call Steyning. When the aforementioned holy man was driving the vehicle before him, the cord by which it hung from his shoulders suddenly broke, and it was dashed from his hands to the ground. at ^a place divinely designated for the church, At which sight Cuthman was greatly astonished and alarmed, for he suspected his mother had been injured. But when he ascertained by sure signs that she was uninjured, coming to himself he said: "Lord Jesus Christ, who have been with me on the way of my pilgrimage along which I walk, and have kept me, and have given me bread to eat and ^a garment with which I covered my nakedness, I give You thanks, because by the sign which I asked of You, You have shown Your servant the place which You have chosen, to which You have led me in safety. In truth I have found that You are no respecter of persons, but in every nation You exalt the humble who love You he gives thanks to God, and humble sinners to the ground. Now I know truly that You have chosen this place, that I may build for You in it ^a church in which You may hear the prayers of Your people supplicating You for their needs, so that having obtained what he has sought with just desires, he may here render You thanksgivings. Upon me, Lord, by Your condescension the care of this work rests, because You inspired the will within, and I, outwardly, am bound to this by the words of my mouth. Where shall I go further, brought here by Your Spirit? This is the end henceforth to remain there, of my wandering, this the place of habitation in which I shall pay my vows from day to day. Almighty Father, who have imposed an end upon my wandering, dispose the beginning of my labor. For who am I, Lord, or what is the house of my father, that I should build ^a house for Your name? You know that I am poor and in labors from my youth, nor can I do anything of myself. If I look to my own resources, there will be absolutely none, unless You have decreed to help. You gave the desire to build; supply the deficiency of the builder, and lead the work of the sacred edifice to full completion. Work this work, Lord, and implores heavenly aid: indeed through my hands, but by Your powers. For looking at myself, my soul is troubled, suffocated by faintheartedness of spirit and lack of strength; but if I raise the eyes of my mind to You, my spirit revives and is strengthened, daring greater things than I undertake. Strength fails in me, with the eye of foresight growing dim. Your will, Lord, is omnipotent, whose providence is accustomed neither to be deceived nor to deceive. In me poverty and want prevail; in You are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden. My soul therefore conceives more of security and confidence when it beholds the riches of Your goodness, than of diffidence and dejection when it examines the miseries and failings of my own calamity."

[8] Having spoken thus, he surveyed with his eyes the place at which he had arrived, and perceived it to be in all respects suitable for his work. There was at that time infrequent access of people, seldom any noise or traffic, and very few inhabitants. The place was at the foot of ^a slope, below ^a hill, then wild with thickets and bushes, in ^a suitable place now reduced to the cultivation of fertile and fruitful land, fittingly enclosed by the streams of two springs descending from the hill. Having made therefore ^a hut there, a hut for himself, where he might rest his head with his mother, he began to measure and plan concerning the site and construction of the church. He undertook the holy work not sluggishly or lazily, but rather in the sweat of his brow and the labor of his hands, he bore the weight and heat of the day, so that whatever slowness the needy man's work sustained from the scarcity of resources, then he himself builds ^a church: that much advancement it might gain from the affection of ^a devoted heart and the willing bodily labor freely given. The Lord had also given him favor in the sight of the righteous people dwelling in the neighborhood, who, aiding him with generous bounty, liberally spent from their goods for his bodily sustenance and the construction of the work.

[9] It happened on ^a certain day that when the holy man had sent the oxen, which he had unyoked from the cart, into the pasture, they went beyond the boundaries of the pasture. When two sons of ^a certain matron called Fippa found them, when his oxen are driven off, they shut them up on their mother's estate. And when, at the returning hour of work, Cuthman, seeking his oxen in the usual place and not finding them, went further and found the aforesaid youths, who told him that he sought his oxen there in vain, since they themselves had shut them up at home; to whom Cuthman responded modestly, saying: "Do not, sons, he admonishes the rustlers in vain, do not impede the Lord's work; but if my oxen have injured you in any way, show me, and I will give you what is just." But they paid no heed. And he said to them: "Lest through you ^a delay of God's work be contrived, for which you should await the formidable sentence of the strict Judge, I command you in the power of our Lord Jesus Christ he yokes them to the cart like oxen to serve the Lord in place of oxen, as they themselves would have served if they were free." And laying hands upon them, he seized them and yoked them to the cart in which the oxen were accustomed to be yoked. he foretells destruction to their blaspheming mother, And thus he worked with them pulling the cart, now full, now empty, without murmuring, standing and advancing at his voice without complaint.

[10] Meanwhile, their mother, having heard what was happening, came at ^a hurried pace, and seeing her sons fatigued by the burden of immense effort, cried out in fury: "Woe is me, my sons! Why did I bear and nurse you, sons of bitterness and perpetual confusion? Let that day perish, I beseech, on which he was born who has yoked you with such severity! Let him perish who afflicts us with such insults; and let the work utterly fail in which you are so cruelly and inhumanly exhausted!" These things and many others she hurled as blasphemous abuse. But he responded with ^a modest voice: "Woman, believe me, the work in which your sons have served is not done by me, but the power of Christ that dwells in me — it performs the works which cannot utterly perish, because they are done in God. But as for you, may you fail as smoke fails, and as the dust which the wind casts from the face of the earth; that posterity may learn, with you having been punished, that it is not permitted to curse those blessed by God, nor to destroy ^a work which has been built by His ordering." He had scarcely completed his speech, soon followed: and behold, ^a whirlwind came from the north, and enveloping her, lifted her on high, and carrying her to ^a high hill, cast her down to the ground. But the earth opened its mouth wide and swallowed her. Whence that place has been called "Fippa's Well" to this day. When this was done, Cuthman released the boys from the cart and said to them: "Sons, he releases the sons, who retain ^a sign of the labor even in their posterity: give thanks to God, because He has chastised you with chastisement and has not delivered you to death, as He did your blaspheming mother. Go in peace, henceforth walking more cautiously in the commandments of the Lord; and lest the work which you have performed fall from memory, you and your posterity shall have as ^a perpetual sign the many wrinkles on your necks which you have contracted from the impression of the yoke and the moisture of the air." Saying these things, he dismissed them. And fear came upon their neighbors, and upon all the hill country round about them all these words were spread abroad.

CHAPTER III

Other miracles of Saint Cuthman.

[11] When throngs were therefore coming together from every side to hear the words of the holy man, and at the same time to behold the wondrous deeds of prodigies occurring daily through him in animate and inanimate things, during the days he was diligent in his labors, and during the nights he persisted continuously in prayers. he works strenuously: He never ate his bread in idleness, according to that saying: "In the sweat of your brow you shall eat your bread." Genesis 3:19 And: "Let feast days be turned into lamentations." Amos 8:10 How pious it is to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep! Cuthman, therefore, according to his daily custom, serving the workers of his church like the least — he who as the greater presided — was frequently accustomed to hang his work gloves, which we call chirothecae, on the rays of the sun, while he was commemorating prayers with devotion in the church, and took them up again on going out, and thus returned with joy. he frequently suspends his gloves on the rays of the sun. This he did every day.

[12] While the Saint shone with such great virtues, more excellent works followed upon those already performed. While the holy man was engaged in the frequent toil of building the basilica — now in raising wooden columns, now in connecting the roof beams — it happened on ^a certain day that ^a single main beam was accidentally struck and bent in such ^a way that, having been previously very useful, it was afterward left utterly useless for the work. While the Saint and the others were complaining to one another about the damage, [he straightens ^a curved beam, with Christ persuading and helping in the guise of ^a pilgrim:] behold, ^a pilgrim traveling from afar suddenly appeared to them, and said: "Why are you saddened among yourselves?" To whom Cuthman answered, saying: "We are afflicted with weariness and loss, the plumb line having been accidentally removed from the connecting timbers." To whom the pilgrim said: "Nothing is lacking to those who fear God. Extend your hand also: let us pull it apart, set it up in its proper place, and make it level." And it was done so. When this was done, Cuthman immediately prostrated himself at the man's feet, saying: "I beseech you, Lord, to tell me: who are you?" "I am," he said, "He in whose name you are building this church. And you shall share in its perpetual memory and glory." And immediately he disappeared from their sight. Cuthman, presiding long afterward in his church, at last received the reward of his labor, promoted from earthly things to heavenly joys, where he remains forever and ever, long afterward he dies in holiness. Amen.