Stephen

ON SAINT STEPHEN, FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF GRANDMONT, AMONG THE LEMOVICES IN GAUL

In the year of Christ 1124.

Preliminary Commentary.

Stephen, Founder of the Order of Grandmont in Gaul (Saint)

By I. B.

Section I. The origin, name, Founder, and Rule of the Grandmontine religious order.

[1] There is in Gaul a congregation of ascetics whom they call the Good Men, or of Grandmont, because their principal monastery is on that mountain. This congregation began in the eleventh century of the Christian Era, The Order of Grandmont celebrated for its contempt of worldly things and austerity of life, but scarcely known outside Gaul, and not spread through many houses in it, because perhaps the excessive harshness of its discipline was judged by no means tolerable to human weakness. austere, Certainly its founder, Stephen of Thiers in Auvergne, is said to have had very few imitators for many years, until gradually experience proved that there is no weakness which cannot be strengthened by Divine grace for however arduous a task.

[2] Stephen himself, however, did not establish the arena at Grandmont: when and whence was it so called? his successors occupied it with humble huts of mud and branches, the Father's body having been translated there, when the envy of their neighbors had compelled them to leave their original seat if they wished to enjoy the quiet necessary for the contemplation of divine things. Stephen had dwelt at Muret for fifty years. begun at Muret, a harsh place, This is a hill three leagues distant from the city of Limoges, surrounded by other hillocks, fenced at a distance by very high rocks, from which very many streams flow together into the middle valley, enclosed by the industry and labor of the monks into an excellent fishpond. The soil of Muret, however, is barren, not fit for cultivation, being entirely stony, so exposed to winds, rains, and frost that it scarcely seems habitable; and before the arrival of Saint Stephen it bristled with dense brambles and thickets. Our Francis Bencius mentions this place and Saint Stephen in the oration delivered at the funeral of Marc-Antoine Muret: "Marc-Antoine Muret," he says, "was born in the year after Christ's birth 1526, in the month of April, in Gaul, in a suburban village of Limoges, called Muret, in a most honorable place, his father a jurist, of a very ancient and noble family — one which had anciently possessed that village, whence the family name; and four hundred years before had produced Stephen, by Saint Stephen, founder of the Grandmontine Order, a most holy man and singular in the affliction of his body, whose feast day falls on the Ides of February." Which our Andrew Schott described in those very words in the Life of Muret. But more than five hundred years before that oration was delivered or Muret departed this life, Stephen was born, and died four hundred and two years before the birth of the same Muret; nor does he have the Ides of February dedicated to him, but the sixth day before the Ides. Nor, finally, did that village or lineage which produced Marc-Antoine produce him. sprung from elsewhere, For he was born among the Arverni, at Thiers, which is now a celebrated marketplace according to Papire, formerly a castle which Stephen, the father of Stephen, is believed to have held, together with other very ample properties which the Canons of Thiers now possess.

[3] The land, however, on which the monastery of Muret was built, Charles Fremon writes in the French Life of Saint Stephen, to whom a piece of land there was given, was given to him by Amelinus, Lord of Raucon; others gave various other things necessary for the building of his monastery, and not a little was later bestowed by the Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I, King of England, and mother of Henry II. Although, moreover, the monks migrated from Muret to Grandmont under Peter of Limoges, the second Prior, the monastery at Muret was not entirely abandoned; but either a few remained as custodians, or they were recalled by the monks of Ambazac, who had brought upon them the necessity of departing. now entirely abandoned by the Order. But now that first house of the entire Order, consecrated by the habitation of Saint Stephen, is entirely deserted. Nevertheless, the cell of the Saint himself, a stone's throw distant from the ruins of the monastery, is still seen today.

[4] Some writers who flourished in Gaul in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries extol the Grandmontine Order with extraordinary praise. John of Salisbury, Bishop of Chartres, who is reported to have died in the year of Christ 1180, a very close friend of Saint Thomas of Canterbury, writes this about the Grandmontines in Book 7, chapter 23, of the Policraticus, or On the Trifles of Courtiers: "The Carthusians and the new profession of Grandmont most cautiously and most faithfully avoid the name and stigma of hypocrites, established on the pinnacle of ancient virtue, with the Savior going before." And shortly after: The praised poverty of the Order, "Moreover, the inhabitants of Grandmont have chosen a most arduous life, and as masters not only of avarice but in a certain way even of nature itself, they have excluded all the demands of necessity and cast away anxiety about the morrow. To despise all the pleasures of the world is a small thing in their eyes: by whatever image anyone may knock at their doors, he is excluded and departs in confusion. For Christ alone enters through those gates, upon whose grace they rely, casting their care upon Him who nourishes the little ones, gives food to the beasts of burden and to the young ravens, clothes the lilies of the field, and provides necessities to all who hope in Him or obey the law of His constitution, so that nothing is lacking to those who have not withdrawn themselves from His will. They therefore cast all their solicitude and everything upon Him who has care for the faithful; and they so avoid the anxieties of providence that their entire life seems to some a temptation."

[5] Peter, Abbot of Celle, later the successor of John of Salisbury in the Bishopric of Chartres, in Epistle 8 of Book 3, commends himself to the prayers of the Grandmontines and shows how splendidly he regards their virtue. And in Book 8, Epistle 7, he seeks the same support of prayers and praises the custom of meeting annually at Grandmont from all the monasteries: annual assemblies, "For the day of the Lord," he says, "is holy, the solemnity of Saint John the Baptist, when the chicks fly back to the mother hen, and from each of your houses the little streams flow back to the place from which they went out, so that, with their course repaired by paternal instruction and correction, they may flow again more copiously and more strongly." And after a few words: "Because we love and honor your Brothers who dwell in our regions; and you also have a good cell in our patrimony." Peter, when he wrote this epistle, was Abbot of the monastery of Saint-Remi at Rheims; as also when he wrote the 22nd of the same book, which he begins thus: "We commend ourselves at least by annual return to the religious assembly of your Brotherhood and to your most holy prayers. For it seems to me that the river of Paradise recalls its courses, as it were, to its original bosom, when from the various parts of the world your Priors happen to come together as one on the solemn day of Blessed John the Baptist."

[13] Lest anyone, however, suppose that these things were said sarcastically by an adversary, as if in satire, it is worth giving here the entire chapter 19 of Jacques de Vitry's History of the West. There is another religious order of Brothers, or regular institution, which is called of Grandmont, whose head and original monastery is in the regions of Aquitaine. The care of temporal affairs entrusted to laymen: These Brothers of Grandmont indeed prudently established from the beginning of the Order that the monks should attend solely to spiritual and divine offices, the administration and provision of temporal affairs being entrusted and left to the lay Brothers. Moreover, they observe the Rule and institutions of the Cistercian Order in almost all other respects, strict abstinence from meat: except that they may never eat meat after they have made their profession, no matter how severe an illness may afflict them. Furthermore, they observe silence in the church, what manner of silence? so long as they are present at divine offices, and in the refectory and dormitory only; in other places and at other hours, whenever it pleases them, they may speak, looking upon one another and mutually consoling each other, according as the Lord shall have inspired them. Moreover, they are so diligent in carefully observing the enclosures of their monasteries with doors always closed, strict enclosure. that entrance is not easily granted except to great and distinguished persons, and to familiars of the Order; nor do they expose their cloister and the interior of their dwelling to guests as do the Cistercians and other regular orders. They have, moreover, one supreme Prior, who, although he has no administration of temporal affairs, before him alone all the lay brothers are bound to render an account of their stewardship once a year at the general chapter, and those who dwell nearby in the same region, once a month. He has furthermore the power to send one monk with a lay brother to visit the monasteries of the entire Order.

[14] Although, moreover, it may seem expedient for monks and spiritual men not to have the administration of temporal affairs, or any kind of dominion, so that they may be able to devote themselves to spiritual matters all the more tranquilly insofar as they do not think about temporal things; nevertheless the enemy of the human race and the cunning assailant of all religion, envying such holy and salutary institutions, on this occasion stirred up a very pernicious murmuring, sedition, and scandal between clerics and laymen, monks and conversi of the aforesaid monastery of Grandmont. A dissension arose, For it seemed to the monks that they ought to have been set over the laymen in all things, not subject to them; just as is done in other religious congregations, which are accustomed to place the capitals, not the bases, at the summit of the building. They added furthermore that the laymen despised them, and presumed to lord it over them not only in temporal matters, but frequently also in spiritual ones. For when their priests wished to celebrate regularly the proper office of the day, the laymen prescribing the order and time of divine services, the laymen wished to hear Masses of the Blessed Mary, or of the Holy Spirit, or for the dead; and according to their various occupations, they demanded that divine services be celebrated for them now earlier, now later. But if the priests refused, the laymen grew indignant toward them and were angered against the monks, murmuring. and vexing the clerics: And since the monks received what they needed only through the hands of the laymen, when the monks requested necessities, the laymen, passing by with deaf ears and dissembling, frequently harassed the monks. On the other hand, the laymen, accusing the monks of ingratitude, asserted that while the monks remained in their peace and the quiet of contemplation, they themselves bore the burden of the day and the heat, and were weighed down by the anxiety of temporal administration, so that the monks, whom they served, might not lack necessities. And since Mary is not read to have murmured against Martha, it ought to suffice the monks that they could rest in the cloister while others went out, and devote themselves to readings and prayers.

[15] At length, indeed, when the parties came to the hearing of the Supreme Pontiff, the Lord Pope, after many arguments and various disputes, both restored peace and concord between the parties; commanding the lay Brothers that they should honor the monks, reconciled to one another by the authority of the Pope: and be subject to them in spiritual matters; and that they should not presume by any presumption to command or ordain anything concerning divine offices. To the monks, moreover, he enjoined that they should love the lay Brothers, instructing them by word and example in a spirit of gentleness, and mercifully bearing with their defects; and that they should not begrudge them the procurement and administration of temporal affairs; but, leaving to them the care of external matters without complaint and murmuring, they themselves should attend to spiritual matters and devote themselves to divine offices.

[16] That distinction of duties between clerics and laymen is expressed in chapter 54 of the Rule. The laymen at last subjected to the clerics. However, the following is written in the margin: This chapter, insofar as it speaks of the care of the Conversi, was removed by John XXII, who sat from August 7, 1316, until December 4, 1334. This is indeed what Platina writes in the Life of that Pontiff: He reduced the Order of Grandmont, which had been undermined by the factions of certain wicked men, to a better form; cutting away those things which were harmful to the Order, and adding certain institutions by which so great a religious body might stand firm. And indeed it was unworthy, as Stephen of Tournai writes, that the laymen should be more numerous and greater in authority, not the clerics; not the learned, but those without learning.

[17] It appears that this dissension between clerics and laymen gave Saint William of Bourges occasion Saint William, later Bishop of Bourges, on that occasion became a Cistercian, to transfer from the Grandmontine Order to the Cistercian. Concerning which matter, the second Life of his feast on January 10, number 3, states: When he had grown to mature manhood, unable to bear the troubles of the world which seemed to impede his holy purpose, having broken the fetters of such troubles, he flew to the Grandmontine hermitage... But on a certain day, when a disturbance arose in that same Grandmontine Order, Blessed William, who feared for the tranquility of his mind, chose by pious deliberation to transfer himself to the Cistercian Order at the monastery of Pontigny. And in the third Life: Fearing lest the abundance of things and the blandishments of the world might recall him from his holy purpose, he flew to the Grandmontine hermitage. Where, when the sower of discord of the entire human race had sown discord between clerics and conversi, with the clerics licensed by the Lord Pope to transfer themselves to another religious order, as the Lord should inspire each one, Blessed William chose the Cistercian Order. It can be called into question whether William was among those about whom Robert of Pontigny had consulted Stephen, then still Abbot of Sainte-Genevieve (certainly after the year 1174, in which his predecessor was still alive), whether by the obligation of the vow which they had previously made they ought to return to the Grandmontines, or whether they would more wholesomely remain at Pontigny. a faculty granted by the Pope. The dates certainly agree; but since Saint William is reported to have abandoned Grandmont only when the clerics had been licensed by the Lord Pope to transfer themselves to another religious order, there could be no doubt about him that he was released from the prior obligation, provided he bound himself by the vows of the Cistercians. Nor anywhere, however, does Stephen cite the power given by the Pope to embrace another institute. Moreover, the Grandmontines still celebrate the feast of Saint William of Bourges on January 19 with a semi-double Office, as may be seen in the Offices of the Order.

[18] The laymen, moreover, or Conversi of whom we have just spoken, were called Bearded (as in certain other religious orders), because it was permitted to them to grow a beard. By their labor one fishpond was dug at Muret, and fifteen at Grandmont. The duties of the laymen: Otherwise, Saint Stephen forbade his followers all possessions of lands that were beyond the boundaries of their own places; and likewise beasts of every kind, as is established in chapters 4 and 6 of the Rule: both of which prohibitions, however, are said to have been abrogated by Innocent IV. Indeed, he did not even allow them to beg, unless a scarcity of provisions should have caused them to fast for two days. Besides these Conversi, Fremon reports that there were other familiars, whom he calls Associates, who were sharers in the good works others associated with them. performed by the Order and lent it their service, carrying alms that had been promised from a distance, and performing other ministries of that kind. He asserts that the one who is called their familiar in the Life, chapter 5, number 30, was from this class.

--- III. The Life, Age, Birth, Translation, and Canonization of Saint Stephen.

[19] About the year 1158, when Stephen of Lisiac was administering the Grandmontine family as the fourth General Prior, the acts of Saint Stephen were collected, The deeds of Saint Stephen collected in the year 1158: as the individual elders could recall from memory what they themselves had witnessed, or had heard from others, especially from Blessed Hugh Lacerta. Gerard Ithier (called by others Gerard and Girard), the seventh General Prior, later made use of these records to compose the Life of Saint Stephen. This Life was extracted from ancient codices and communicated to us by Pierre-Francois Chifflet. From these the Life was written, That it is indeed the same as what was written by Gerard, Fremon shows when in chapter 5 he cites from that Life what is found in this one, chapter 1, number 5, in the very same words. the same as is published here. "From his parents and brothers and kinsmen

and friends, who rejoiced greatly at his return, he secretly departed alone." What is recited in the Grandmontine offices from the Life of Blessed Father Stephen by Gerard, Prior of Grandmont, is for the most part more prolix and more ornate than what we publish: so that it appears to have been composed from the Life, not transcribed in the same words. elsewhere amplified: Although what Bellovacensis draws from his deeds does not entirely correspond to this Life, so that one may suspect that it has been at some point abridged here, or elsewhere interpolated by others, if this is the genuine text.

[20] Stephen of Tournai, cited above at number 8, seems to imply that this Life had for some time served in place of a Rule, was it formerly used as a Rule? or perhaps this title was prefixed to the Constitutions of the Order: "The Life of Saint Stephen," or "The Life of the Brothers of Grandmont." "A beautiful little book," he says, "which contains their constitutions is not called a Rule by them, or merely the Saint's precepts? but a Life." Now, however, it is certainly called the Rule of Saint Stephen Confessor, Author and Founder of the Order of Grandmont. In this very Life mention is made of the Rule prescribed by him for his followers. Thus chapter 4, number 24: "Only persevere in the Rule drawn by me from the Gospel." And lest anyone think that these things ought to be understood merely of the manner of living which he himself observed and taught his followers by the living voice, the writer of the Life speaks thus at number 23: "Because it is written in his maxims and the teachings of his counsels, we pass over it in silence." Whether, however, that commentary was composed by himself, or rather afterwards compiled by another, let them not rashly affirm. At number 28 it is said that he did not wish mention to be made of his regular institutions to those who criticized them.

[21] Besides that Life, and what Vincent of Beauvais published in Book 25, chapters 46 and the four following, the following treat of him: Saint Antoninus, Part 2, Title 15, chapter 21; Another Life of Stephen. Peter de Natalibus, Book 3, chapter 120; Chrysostom Henriquez in the Fasciculus of Saints of the Cistercian Order, Book 2, Distinction 2; Benedict Gonon in the Lives of the Fathers of the West, Book 3; Bernard Gui, cited by Menard in Book 1 of the Observations on the Benedictine Martyrology, February 13; Simon Martin in the Flowers of Solitude, Book 3; Antonio de Yepes, Chronicle of Saint Benedict, Century 6, at the year 1076, chapters 3 and 4. The following also make mention of him, besides those previously cited: Bartholomew Chassanaeus in the Catalogue of the Glory of the World, Part 4, Consideration 67; Polydore Vergil, On the Inventors of Things, Book 7, chapter 2; Claude Robert in the Gallia Christiana; Vincent Ciarlanti in the Antiquities of Samnium, Book 3, chapter 34. Most copiously of all, however, Charles Fremon, a religious of the same Order, wrote and published his Life in French at Dijon in the year 1647.

[22] The age of Saint Stephen is thus computed in the Latin Life: "In the year of the Lord 1076, being in his thirtieth year, he promised to serve God in the Catholic faith"; He died not in the year 1126, chapter 1, number 5. Then, "remaining there in continuous fasts and prayers, serving God day and night, never returning to the world, he completed fifty years." If fifty be added to 1076, we obtain 1126. Hence Baronius maintains that he died in that year, at the age of eighty. Others also follow the same calculation. Fremon writes that he died in the year 1125, on February 8, a Friday. nor 1125, For in the Life by Gerard he says it is stated that he died "in the year of the Lord one thousand and twenty-fourth nearly completed": because, namely, the people of Limoges and the rest of the French reckoned the year from Easter; by which reckoning February of the year 1125 belonged to the preceding year. But those words are absent from the Life which we give here, and it is only said that he died on Friday, the sixth day before the Ides of February, the year not being expressed. The Offices of the Order likewise omit the year, but set down the sixth day before the Ides and Friday. And indeed in the year 1125 the Dominical letter was D, and the eighth day of February fell on a Sunday. For as to what Fremon says, that William of Saint-Savin and a certain one surnamed de Guardia, writers of the Order, report that he died under Honorius II, who was only created Pontiff at the end of December 1124 — these same writers may have erred in their calculation; or perhaps their records have been interpolated. Fremon testifies in chapter 21 that the first tomb of Stephen still exists at Muret, but 1124 in a chapel built afterwards, in which this epitaph is read:

Stormy February had already driven forth eight days of light, ...when the spirit of Stephen sought the stars; In the hundredth year and thousandth, and twice the tenth as well, With the fourth adjoined, having gained for himself the kingdom of heaven.

To the year 1124 according to today's reckoning, certainly, the markers expressed in the Offices and the Life agree, which Fremon wrongly twists to another date. For in that leap year the Dominical letter up to the intercalary day was F, and thereafter E, and thus the first and eighth days of February fell on a Friday. Friday, February 8. In the Breviary of Limoges it is explicitly said that he departed to heaven on the sixth day before the Ides of February, in the year of Christ 1124. It must be admitted, however, either that Stephen did not complete a full eighty years, or that perhaps there is an error in the first number, and that he withdrew into solitude in 1074, not 1076.

[23] The first Translation of his body occurred when the entire community migrated from Muret to Grandmont, translated to Grandmont, which Fremon says took place on June 25, five months after his death. This sacred treasure was concealed beneath the presbytery before the altar, with few knowing: lest a multitude should flock to venerate him, and the quiet of the holy house be disturbed by worldly noise. But soon the place became known through miracles, as is narrated in the history of the Translation and more fully in Fremon: who adds that when Prior Peter saw the crowds competing to gather there, and asked, indeed commanded by the second Prior, inflamed by a certain holy zeal, he remonstrated with the Saint — though in words full of reverence — that he was disturbing the quiet which he himself had commanded for them; and at length he asked, indeed by a certain simple innocence he commanded, that he cease to work miracles; otherwise he would dig up his bones and cast them into the water. he works no miracles, The Saint obeyed the command of his successor, and as long as that Prior lived, he performed no further miracle. Nevertheless, people did not on that account cease to flock there, both to venerate the Saint and to commend themselves to the prayers of his holy sons. At that time also, so many dedicated themselves to their institute that it was necessary to enlarge the monastery yet visited by many: and build a more spacious chapel. At that time also the foundations were laid of the church and house which still stand today.

[24] When Peter died, his nephew Peter of Saint-Christopher was substituted: who shortly afterwards, seized by illness, the third Prior's illness wiped away: when he was tortured by the severest pains, begged Saint Stephen and his holy uncle to remove or at least mitigate these pains. Having uttered this prayer, he sees two venerable old men approach him, and with a white and clean linen cloth wipe all his limbs from feet to head, and at the same time drive the pain from each one. When they departed, the novelty and greatness of the favor drew from him a feeling of shame, and a most ample thanksgiving.

[25] Stephen of Lisiac succeeded him, who built the church, when (as is narrated in the history of the Revelation, number 5) the architect was recalled to life through the invoked aid of Saint Stephen. He, at the general chapter, caused the manner of life that had been handed down by Saint Stephen to be committed to writing, divided into approximately fifty chapters: and this is the Rule, approved subsequently by several Pontiffs, which is now observed in that Order.

[26] The same Prior, however, when he heard that many miracles were occurring elsewhere through the invocation of Saint Stephen, fearing lest these should again draw a crowd to the Grandmontine church, The Rule compiled by the fourth Prior: the body concealed in the cloister? secretly removed the bones of the Saint from the tomb and hid them in the cloister, as though he believed that prayers would be less well heard which were not offered at the relics themselves. Nevertheless, as before, very many gathered, either to pray to the Saint for favors or to give thanks for those received. And in that very monastery a certain young man named Audoenus, a candidate of the Order, born of a most honorable place, while doing something or other for the sake of relaxation, a dead man raised at that place. fell to the ground with such force that he broke his neck. The Prior carried the corpse to the place where the relics of the Saint had been buried in the cloister: and having besought him that life be restored to the young man, he obtained it.

[27] The Prior himself then fell into a grave fever: and thinking it had been sent because the relics of the holy Father had been placed in a less fitting manner, especially because, enclosed in a wooden chest, they could easily decay; he commanded that they be brought to him, bedridden as he was, so that he might see to their being placed in a more ornate casket and returned to their former tomb. the Prior himself healed, As soon as they were brought to him, he was immediately freed from the fever; and he said, "What is this, holy Father? Or to whom do you apply this sudden cure? I do not doubt your sanctity, so that it should need to be proved to me by this miracle. I trusted that this illness would send me to your fellowship in heaven. Since, however, it has seemed otherwise to God and to you, I accommodate myself to your will." At the same time he rose from his bed, entirely free from all disease; more honorably replaced: and he placed the relics in a new casket and set them in the former tomb, beneath the altar of the chapel which was thereafter dedicated in his name. So Fremon, chapter 26.

[28] In the time, however, of Lord Bernard, the fifth Prior of Grandmont, when a general chapter had been assembled at Grandmont, an annual celebration of the first Translation instituted by the fifth Prior the Translation of the body of the most blessed Stephen was celebrated on the day following the Nativity of the Precursor and Herald of the Lord and Savior. So the history of the Translation, number 4. And then: "When he had heard that the Saint of God had been carried by the aforesaid Prior and by the entire convent from the cloister into the church," etc. — as though that Translation had then occurred which Fremon previously attributed to the fourth Prior Stephen: who in chapter 27 writes that Peter Bernard, the fifth Prior, took care only that the first Translation, which had formerly occurred when the community left Muret, should be celebrated with an annual solemnity; and that it was first celebrated on June 25, 1167, with a pious and magnificent procession. The Offices of the Order agree, in which the memory of that first Translation is prescribed to be celebrated on that day with the greater double rite, June 25: and the following is found in the sixth Lesson of that day: "By divine providence concerning this matter, under Peter Bernard the fifth Prior, at a well-attended chapter of the Order, it was decreed that the seventh day before the Kalends of July, on which that Translation was made, should be held sacred and solemn every year."

[29] The canonization was at length obtained by Gerard — or, as Fremon perpetually calls him, Gerard, or Girard, as the manuscript has it — the seventh Prior. Claude Robert in the Gallia Christiana mentions this canonization and elevation. It took place on August 30, 1189, and its memory is recalled annually with a feast of the second class. declared canonized August 30, 1189 Fremon enumerates in chapter 28 the bishops who attended the solemnity, together with the Cardinal of Saint Mark, the Apostolic Legate. Henry II, King of England, had himself also resolved to come, but he died in Gaul itself nearly two months before the celebration was carried out. not without miracles. Prior Gerard had commanded his men to beseech God earnestly that he would attest the sanctity of Stephen by new miracles and honor the celebration. Which happened abundantly. Fremon recites the bull of Canonization, of which Gerard inserted only a part into the history of the Revelation. It seems worthwhile to give it here in its entirety.

[30] Clement, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons Gerard, Prior, and the Brothers of Grandmont, greeting and Apostolic blessing. Bull of canonization. Our Redeemer willed the sacrosanct Roman Church to be the head and mistress of all, so that at her direction and command, with Divine grace going before, whatever is to be done by the faithful anywhere may be ordered, and errors corrected for the better; and that in doubtful matters recourse may be had to her counsel; and that what she has established no one, however much he may glory in his own merits, may be permitted to change. Lest, if perchance an indiscriminate license were given to all to perpetrate whatever might occur to them according to their own will, a confused liberty — since vows differ according to the diversity of persons — should sometimes suppress, to the scandal of others and without the discernment of a just balance, things that ought to be commended, and should celebrate with undeserved praises things less worthy. Hence it was that our predecessor of good memory, Urban, proceedings conducted by Urban III, having heard the report of the religious life and the praiseworthy purity of life by which Stephen of holy memory, founder of the Grandmontine Order, had shone forth, and also by how great testimonies of miracles almighty God had willed to declare his merits to the world, wished to entrust to the Legates whom he had dispatched to those parts for the transaction of certain business of the Church a full investigation concerning these matters, so that from the testimony of these Legates and of other men to whom faith was undoubtedly to be given, they might proceed with deliberation to do what might seem fitting both for the advantage of the faithful and for the honor of that holy man, who had hitherto lain hidden like a gem in a dunghill.

[31] We also, from the testimony of our most dear son in Christ, Henry, the illustrious King of the English; and also of our venerable brothers, William of Rheims, Cardinal Priest of Santa Sabina, examined by Clement III. Bartholomew, Archbishop of Tours, and Elias, Archbishop of Bordeaux, and Seibrand, Bishop of Limoges, and our beloved Bohard, then Cardinal Deacon of Sant'Angelo, and Octavian, Cardinal Deacon of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, who discharged the office of legation in those parts, and of many other bishops — being more fully informed concerning the life, merits, and manner of living in which the aforesaid holy man is asserted to have flourished, and that Divine mercy willed to distinguish him by manifold signs of miracles — we have seen fit to entrust the execution of this matter to the judgment of our beloved son John, Cardinal Priest of San Marco, Legate of the Apostolic See, commanding him by Apostolic letters that, proceeding to your house and convening the bishops of the adjacent regions and other religious men, he should announce on our behalf that we have enrolled him among the Saints: by whom he was also canonized: henceforth to be numbered in the catalogue of Saints, and that we have decreed that through his merits the suffrages of the Redeemer should be sought together with the intercessions of the other Saints. Given at the Lateran, on the twelfth day before the Kalends of April, in the second year of our pontificate. This was the year, as indicated above, 1189.

[32] Besides the body of Saint Stephen, or its principal bones, there is preserved in the treasury of the Grandmontine church the tunic in which he was formerly clothed when he discharged the office of Deacon in the sacred rites: His relics, the Dalmatic, and even now, after more than five hundred years, it appears entirely fresh, although every Deacon ordained there is vested in it on the first day he publicly chants the Gospel.

[33] When the Canons of Thiers heard that Stephen, their fellow citizen and indeed the lord of their town, had been enrolled in the registers of the Saints, an arm at Thiers, they sent distinguished gifts to his tomb; and by a humble petition they besought the Prior and convent of Grandmont to bestow upon them some small portion of the relics of their holy Patron, offering in return an arm of Saint Felician, Bishop and Martyr of Foligno. The Grandmontines assented and gave the arm of Saint Stephen to the people of Thiers, who received it with a distinguished and devout procession and venerate it with an annual solemnity: just as also throughout the entire Grandmontine Order the feast of Saint Felician is celebrated on January 24 with the greater double Office.

[34] There was at Auginiac, which is a village of the diocese of Limoges, a priest most devoted to Saint Stephen and the Order: a tooth at Auginiac, he obtained from the Prior, by many prayers, a single tooth of the Saint. And when not long afterwards he had become deaf, so that he could hear absolutely nothing, but felt a dull buzzing sound perpetually ringing in his ears, he prostrated himself on his knees before the altar of the Blessed Virgin and Saint Stephen, drew forth that tooth, and with great reverence and confidence by which deafness was healed: inserted it into his ears, and in a moment recovered his hearing, so that he testified he had never heard more perfectly than before.

[35] There is a monastery among the Poitevins which they call Fontcreuse (Fontcaude in Latin). A portion of the table in Poitou preserved from fire, Its Procurator, while attending the general chapter at which the solemnity of the Translation was decreed, obtained from the General Prior, by lengthy prayers, a small portion of the table which Stephen had used at Muret. But the chest in which it was afterwards kept was entirely consumed by an accidental fire, and the other things in it were utterly destroyed, except for that small piece of wood and the linen in which it was wrapped. It therefore began to be held in veneration, and by the water in which it had been dipped health-giving against diseases: very many diseases were cured; the Procurator of that monastery himself drove away the fevers from which he was suffering by drinking that water.

[36] The Grandmontine Order celebrates the feast of Saint Stephen on February 8 with the first-class double Office, the solemnity being extended for an octave. His feast February 8. On that day Ferrari makes mention of him in his general Catalogue of Saints with these words: "At Limoges, Saint Stephen, Abbot of Grandmont." He is venerated also in the Church of Limoges, as is clear from its Breviary printed in the year 1626, with the double Office, on the same day.

[37] Several calendars have him assigned to the Ides of February: Peter of Equilino, Book 3, chapter 120, and Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology, with a lengthy eulogy. Others more briefly; as Maurolycus: "In the woodland of the territory of Limoges, on Mount Muret, of Stephen the Abbot, founder of the Grandmontine Order, in the year 1076." Molanus in the supplement to Usuard, and Wion in the Benedictine Martyrology: in some authorities February 13. "On the same day, the deposition of Stephen the Hermit, who was the devout founder of Grandmont." Hermann Greven in his additions to Usuard: "Of Stephen, Deacon and Confessor, who began the Grandmontine Order about the year 1076, and being strict with himself but kind to his subjects, governed it, and full of good works, rested in peace." Of him on that day also make mention the manuscript Florarium, Menard, Dorgany, Canisius, and — who had previously placed him on the eighth — Ferrari.

[38] But the feast of the Translation, as said before, other celebrations. is kept on June 25; that of the Canonization on August 30.

LIFE

by Gerard, Prior of Grandmont. Transcribed from an ancient codex by Pierre-Francois Chifflet, of the Society of Jesus.

Stephen, Founder of the Grandmontine Order in Gaul (Saint)

BHL Number: 7910

By Gerard, from manuscripts.

CHAPTER I

The Life of Saint Stephen in the World and in the Hermitage.

[1] There was in the regions of Auvergne a certain nobleman named Stephen, lord of Thiers; whose wife was called Candida; to whom by divine appointment a son was born, who remained always a virgin, and, as a sign of the crown which he merited, was called Stephen after his father's name. Stephen, a nobleman, His parents, having educated him with diligent care in the manner of the nobility, when he had reached the age of understanding, gave him over to learn letters, instructed in letters, loving him all the more dearly as the boy began to show himself of more elegant form and good disposition.

[2] At the age of twelve he is led to Bari by his father: As the boy therefore grew and made more and more progress in the holy knowledge of letters — and meanwhile the body of Saint Nicholas having been translated from the city of Myra to the city called Bari — the aforesaid nobleman Stephen, divinely inspired, proceeding thither with many others for prayer, took with him his son Stephen, the Lord so ordaining, because he loved him above all things and therefore could not be without him.

[3] Whence, when he was returning happily through the city of Benevento after completing his prayers, the sick boy commended to Saint Milo, Archbishop of Benevento, the same boy, offered to God who receives little ones, fell ill. At that time Blessed Milo governed the archbishopric of the aforesaid city, known to this man of whom we speak from his youth in the regions of Auvergne, whence he had his family. To this Archbishop the aforesaid nobleman commended his son, that he should take care of his illness and, if he survived, should educate him; for the boy Stephen was already twelve years old. For the Almighty Father willed that the boy should begin to serve Him at the same age at which His own Son was led to the temple by His parents according to the flesh; and just as the boy Jesus remained in Jerusalem, so this boy was to remain on the journey, by God's disposition. And so the aforesaid nobleman, deprived of his dear pledge, returned desolate and sorrowful to his own lands. He soon recovers: But after a few days, by the working of Divine clemency, the boy was restored to health, and, as though forgetful of his father and his homeland, he was cheerful and joyful in a foreign land. Whence the Archbishop, like a devoted father and faithful teacher, with whom he remained for twelve years, he stays with him for twelve years: taught him goodness and discipline and knowledge with the greatest diligence; and when the boy was free from his studies, while the Archbishop was conducting the hearings of his diocese, he had him stand at his feet.

[4] Stephen, therefore, passing beyond the bounds of boyhood, after the Archbishop's death entered Rome, and remained for four years with a certain Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, he lives in Rome for four years: and very frequently heard Catholic men disputing about the various practices of different religious orders and the dispensations of the entire Church. And having been instructed concerning the aforesaid matters, he most devoutly petitioned the Roman Pontiff, to whom he was well known, that he might be permitted to observe somewhere, for the remission of his sins, the manner of life which he had learned to observe in Calabria — he obtains from the Pope the faculty to establish an Order: that of a certain religious congregation walking in the right way and living in the cloister without private property, and keeping obedience, the restorer of the human race, to the best of their powers in all things, and crucifying the world to themselves and themselves to the world, and glorying in the Cross of the Lord. To him the Vicar of Christ granted what he asked, and enjoined upon him all the good that he should do as a penance and as a reward of virtues.

[5] And departing from the Roman Curia he returned to Thiers. But making only a brief stay there, he secretly left alone from his parents, ^mbrothers, and kinsmen, who rejoiced greatly at his return, and came, with Christ as his guide, ⁿinto Aquitaine, to a wooded mountain he withdraws to Mount Muret: not far distant from the city of Limoges, which is called Muret: where, having made a small hut of branches, in the year of the Lord 1076, being in his thirtieth year, he devotes himself to God: he promised to serve God in the Catholic faith; and with a certain ring, which he possessed from all the substance of the world, he espoused himself, a most chaste Virgin, to Christ^o: and there, in continuous fasts and prayers, serving God day and night, never returning to the world, he completed fifty years, knowing that for those who seek and love God the frequenting of men and the abundance of things are harmful, he lives there fifty years, while poverty and solitude are useful — as is the land of the solitude of the aforesaid Mount Muret, wild and barren, in a harsh place, and almost at all times wintry, unaccustomed to men, accustomed to beasts, offering affliction of the body and promising rest of the mind.

[6] For from the day of his conversion, his food was bread and water, and occasionally a small gruel of wheat flour, on a hard and scanty diet. which, less palatable than other gruels of other flours, serves the needs of necessity, not of pleasure. Only in old age, from the thirtieth year of his conversion, did he use a little wine on account of his stomach, which the dryness and scarcity of food had excessively contracted. Nevertheless, he imposed the rule of his austerity and the measure of his own capacity on no one; but just as he had begun, he was indeed cruel and severe to himself, but kind and far more moderate to others: for he knew that according to the grace bestowed on each from heaven, one is stronger than another, and we are not all capable of all things.

continually commended in the sermons which he delivered to the people. Fremon adds that Stephen had wished to join them even earlier, had Milo not prevented it.

CHAPTER II

The Death of Saint Stephen and His Sanctity Proclaimed by Miracles.

[7] And when two Cardinal Legates, ^asent into Gaul, had visited him in the solitude of Muret and had diligently inquired into his manner of life, on the eighth day after their departure, Saint Stephen is visited by two Cardinals: he foreknows his death: on the day before the Nones of February, being troubled by no pain, he devoted himself entirely to the instruction of his disciples and to prayer: for he knew through the Holy Spirit that the day of his death was drawing near. When they asked how they would live after his death without temporal resources, he replied: "I leave you God alone, to whom all things belong, for whose love you have equally left all things and your very selves. If, loving poverty, you steadfastly cleave to Him, he exhorts his followers to poverty: and do not turn aside from the way of truth, He Himself, according to His providence by which He wondrously governs all things, will bestow upon you what He knows to be expedient."

[8] And on the fifth day, seized by pain, he was carried into the oratory; and when Mass was finished, after the sacred anointing and the reception of the Body and Blood of the Lord, fortified by viaticum and anointing, with the Brothers weeping and chanting Psalms, in the eightieth year of his age, in the order of the diaconate, on Friday, the sixth day before the Ides of February, saying, he dies on February 8, a Friday. "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit," he happily departed to the Lord.

[9] When Father Stephen had died, soon the monks of Saint Augustine from the nearby Provostry of ^bAmbazac, together with the Chaplain of that place and a great multitude of the people, knocked at the door of the cell house of Muret, crying out with sorrow and saying: "Good men, good men, do not conceal from us the death of Lord Stephen, your Father. Truly we know, truly we know, that the beloved Father is dead." But the porter, hearing this, and wishing to keep them from the burial, his death revealed to those absent, so that they might celebrate the obsequies of so great a funeral worthily and most devoutly without tumult, said to them as if consoling: "What is this that you say, that he is dead? Indeed we believe he is much better than usual." To whom the priest who had come with the monks and the people said: "We know well that he is dead. For in our village a certain boy, just now at the point of death, by a dying boy, who had seen a mystical ladder and Angels, had lost his speech from yesterday and the day before; and when he was being watched by his mother as she awaited his passing, he suddenly burst forth with these words: 'I see,' he said, 'a most brilliant ladder, one end of which touches heaven, the other touches Muret; and many Angels descend by it to lead the soul of Lord Stephen, most pleasing to God, to glory'; adding: 'Now I hear bells ringing on every side.' And this is a sign to you who also predicted his own death: that I speak to you the truth, for I shall now die, and shall speak with you no more; but I shall ascend with the most holy Father and the multitude of Angels." Having said these things, he expired. O happy vision! And who more fittingly ought to have borne witness to the Virgin than a virgin? For both were virgins, both the faithful servant and the boy who saw the vision and reported it.

[10] For by a wondrous dispensation of God, his death was made known on the same day at the city of Tours and at ^cVersalau: likewise in other very remote places: which two places are so far distant from each other and from Muret that, unless it had happened miraculously, the death of this athlete of Christ could in no way have become known on the same day.

[11] On the following night he appeared in a vision to a certain Canon, a ^dfamiliar of his, adorned in a ^erosy garment. Nor is it surprising that it was rosy, since he had been a Martyr of Christ he appears to a Canon by agreement: while he lived in this present world. Which Canon indeed, upon awaking, understood that he had paid the debt of death, and quickly rising, he performed the entire divine office for the commendation of his soul. For in mutual charity the two had said to each other: whichever of them should live longer would celebrate the obsequies for the other.

[12] At the time when Lupardus was ravaging the land of Limoges with a multitude of malefactors, and to two captives, whom he frees: two men were captured: ^fwho, praying to God in prison that He would deign to free them through the merits of Saint Stephen from the hands of their enemies, Blessed Stephen appeared to them, radiant, saying to them: "Rise, fear not, and follow me," leading them with him in the sight of all — the guide of two men among the enemies — and no one harmed either of them, nor was able to harm them.

[13] And on a certain day, when Brother Hugh Lacerta, ^ga disciple of Saint Stephen, had come to the house of Muret and had found the priest of the said house alone with his minister, preparing himself for the office of Mass in the oratory, he appears to Blessed Hugh, in the garb of a Deacon ministering to the priest, rising from prayer and lifting his eyes to the altar and the ministers of the altar, he suddenly saw Saint Stephen clothed in Levitical vestments and shining, ministering at the altar and to the priest with all devotion, as a Deacon. At this sight the man of God Hugh was made joyful, was bathed in tears, and was illuminated by the supreme light. To whom, when Mass was finished, Saint Stephen, turning with a cheerful countenance and smiling, extended his palms; from which extension of his hands we believe that Saint Stephen called his disciple to the heavenly kingdom, and calls him to heaven. for after a few days he happily departed to Christ.

CHAPTER III

The Poverty, Piety, Penance, and Judgment Concerning His Institute of Saint Stephen.

[14] Furthermore, if anyone should wish to know whence even that slender sustenance by which the body of Stephen, the athlete of Christ, was maintained, was available to him — especially in the first year of his conversion, when, lacking human solace, he was alone in the wilderness — let him recall to mind how Obadiah nourished the ^aprophets of the Lord, hidden in a cave, with bread and water for the love of God: Saint Stephen sustained his whole life by voluntary alms, and let him know that in like manner the charity of the ^bneighboring inhabitants, by Divine inspiration alone, brought necessities to this servant of God. He who also sent a meal to Daniel shut up in the lions' den through Habakkuk; who freed Elijah from the distress of hunger through the ministry of a raven and a widow; who daily gives food to the beasts of burden and to the young ravens that call upon Him — He could not forget a man of such great faith, whom He had hidden in the secret of His countenance from the disturbance of men, that He might love him. Nor does he hunger overmuch for the bread of men who frequently eats the bread of Angels. Intent therefore upon heavenly things alone, he abundantly received the nourishment of the body from the devotion of the faithful, but the refreshment of the mind and the anointing of the spirit from the gift of divine contemplation.

[15] For how could he not taste how sweet the Lord is, and not receive the droppings of His sweetness, devoted to contemplation, he who by chastising his body and bringing it into subjection through ^cstrict abstinence wore it down; who also went armed with an iron coat of mail against the snares of the flesh and the wantonness of the mind clad in an iron coat of mail until, his entire body having been dried out, he obtained a complete victory over himself? To the summit of which extraordinary perfection was added so great a scarcity of clothing and such hardness of bed that to all who beheld the capacities of the human condition, it seemed to exceed the powers of men. For the garments in which he was clothed over the coat of mail and the same clothing in winter and summer: were at no time diminished or increased, but in winter and summer they were always equal and the same for repelling cold and heat alike.

[16] His bed, moreover, upon which after the excessive vexation and weariness of his flesh he would retire for a little rest, was so hard and so contrary to repose that one sleeping in it could be tormented, not refreshed. what manner of bed? For it was made of wooden boards joined together in the ground after the manner of a sepulchre, lacking all bedding and all covering, except for that iron tunic which he always wore upon his bare flesh, and the coarsest garment in which he remained clothed over it. This he brought with him when he came to bed, and this he carried back with him when he rose from bed, being sparing in food, sparing in bed, and sparing in sleep.

[17] For apart from the regular obligations of the ecclesiastical office — namely the Office of the Day, and of the Blessed Mary, and of the Faithful Departed — from the first day on which he came into the wilderness until the last day of his life, he most devoutly celebrated daily and nightly the Office of the Holy Trinity with nine lessons long prayers, and the canonical hours. He so loved psalmody and familiar prayers, and possessed so abundantly the grace of that most excellent contemplation in which God is better known, that now rapt by the sweetness of the one, now held by the occupation of the other, he frequently went without bodily food for two or three days. he sometimes defers these for the sake of charity, But if, because of conversation with those whom he could not in charity neglect, he sometimes did not fulfill at the appointed hours or times what he was accustomed to do or say in prayer, they could indeed be deferred, but not omitted. he never omits them: For after those who had come departed from him, at whatever hour it then was, before he ate or slept, he restored with all devotion everything of his customary prayers which he had necessarily interrupted. Whence for the most part he took no food until the next day, a true imitator of the disciples of Christ, who on account of those coming and going had no opportunity to eat.

[18] For indeed, because a lamp once lit cannot be hidden under a bushel, the report of his sanctity was spread far and wide. Mark 6:31 Therefore many came to him from every quarter, asked of what order he was, small and great; among whom, by the dispensation of Divine goodness, at the end of his life two most eminent Cardinals sent by the Supreme Pontiff into Gaul came, so that Christ's servant Stephen — because he had received from the Apostolic Vicar, at the beginning of his purpose of living well, the command to do so, as has been said — might obtain from the Apostolic men, Cardinals and Vicars of Christ, testimony of his sanctity. Which servant of Christ, when asked by them whether he was a Canon, or a monk, or a hermit, after the example of Saint John the Baptist denied that he was, lest he should seem proud in the eyes of men, although he could most truly have professed all of these concerning himself. For just as it is said of John, when the Jews asked him who he was, or what he said of himself, when he replied that he was neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor a prophet, he himself said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness"; similarly these two Legates asked Blessed Stephen, saying: "What then do you say of yourself, since you confess that you are neither a Canon, nor a monk, nor a hermit, by which orders the entire life of Religious is sustained?"

[19] To whom the Legates — since he was always prepared to give an account to everyone who asked — he replied most humbly, like John the Baptist: "When we wished to depart from this deceitful world, with the grace of Christ leading us, he acknowledges that his institute was approved by the Pontiff, we received our penance from the Roman Pontiff as best we could, and with his command and under obedience, for the remission of our sins, we proposed to follow this way of poverty and abjection; even if we cannot, by reason of our frailty, imitate the holy and praiseworthy hermits whom we read to have devoted themselves to Divine contemplation throughout the entire week without bodily food; nevertheless, because we have turned aside somewhat from the public road and follow, as best we can, the Brothers who serve God in Calabria, at the Last Judgment, when Christ shall come to judge the living and the dead, we await His mercy. And behold, we do not use the garb of monks and canons, about which you ask, he professes himself to be neither a Canon, nor a monk, nor a hermit. as you see, since we do not arrogate to ourselves the titles of such great sanctity: for the institution of the Canons has the power, after the example of the Apostles, of binding and loosing. Moreover, we do not use the name of monks, who have received the name of sanctity or the title of singularity: among whom those are specially called monks who take care of themselves and think of nothing else except God alone. The life of hermits, indeed, we are by no means able to imitate, because in this especially consists the life of all hermits: to avoid the tumults of the world and to remain in their cells, so that they may devote themselves to prayer and silence."

[20] The penance which — by keeping vigil, fasting, subjecting his flesh to his spirit all day long, enduring cold and heat, carrying the Cross of the Lord in his heart, and by charity showing himself affable and cheerful to all who were in need — his free will, with the grace of God going before, constant in penances, and the sweet yoke of the Lord and His light burden, had rendered so easy for the most holy man Stephen of every way praiseworthy life, that he feared to endure no labor. Nor did he ever say what is frequently said by many: "I am wearied by vigils," or "by fasts," and tireless, or "I am constrained by cold," or "my bed last night was hard." But how great was the perfection of this, whoever attentively considers himself can understand. The number, moreover, of the genuflections of the venerable Father which, [most frequently prostrating himself on the ground, he develops calluses, and his nose becomes crooked;] kissing the ground and striking it with his forehead and nose, he humbly performed, we cannot know; which indeed, on account of their most frequent repetition, we believe even he himself did not know. We know that on his hands and knees,

by the constancy of those genuflections, he had developed calluses after the manner of a camel, and had bent his nose crooked.

CHAPTER IV

The Chastity of Saint Stephen, and His Charity Toward the Needy and the Sick.

[21] The fragrance of a wondrous odor, which those who spoke with him and stood about him perceived to proceed from him, he breathes forth a sweet odor, testified that the Author of all sweetness rested in him. Nevertheless, as far as we are given to understand, it was a reward by which his most perfect virginity and the humility of his soul, which were preeminent in him, were honored even in this life while he lived. For among his other virtues there was in him an inviolate virginity, on account of his undefiled virginity and humility: which Christ, the guardian and watchful defender of His temple, permitted no stain to violate: as he himself confessed to certain of his disciples, whose number ^ahad already grown, saying: "Assuredly at no time has any motion of lust shaken my flesh or my spirit; but this is to me without doubt a reason for greater fear. Virginity perishes more quickly by any emotion of pride than by fornication."

[22] Furthermore, the stability of his religious life preserved all virtues intact in him, since for no reason did he go forth from his cell. a lover of his cell and of silence: Indeed, he avoided going out even through the other door of his oratory, as though he had vowed to guard his eyes from wandering, and to prepare in himself a cloister and a tabernacle for the Lord, unwilling to let go of the Bridegroom once he had found Him, because he had long sought Him by the narrow way.

[23] How prudently and how carefully he taught his disciples by the living voice, and by the maxims and examples of the Saints, concerning the observance of religion, the maturity of morals, and all things that pertain to the salvation of the soul, he instructs all in virtue — because it is written in his maxims and the teachings of his counsels, we pass over in silence. But whenever he found someone willing to hear the word of God, neither for the sake of food nor sleep, nor cold nor heat, did he hold him back from this work of Christ. Thus, giving to different persons different counsels of salvation, tirelessly: taking care that he might be heard more attentively in his words, introducing fitting parables, as though holding forth honey enclosed in the comb.

[24] Nor did he seek to mortify the bodies of his disciples, but their vices. Whence, as a faithful and prudent steward, whom the Lord has set over His household, in matters of food and clothing and the other necessities of human frailty, he provides for the needs of his followers, he indulged them with a fair balance: this alone he required of them, that, loving God above all things, they might truly say to Him: "For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter," the venerable Father saying to the Brothers: "Know for certain that in this wilderness I have completed nearly fifty years, exhorting them to mortification and trust, of which some have passed in great want, others in great abundance; but Divine goodness has always bestowed all things upon me in due measure, so that in time of want nothing necessary was lacking, nor in abundance did anything superfluous remain. The same will happen to you, if you avoid all that is superfluous; by his own example: for necessities condemn no one: only persevere in the Rule drawn by me from the Gospel."

[25] Toward his disciples, with the greatest discretion, the lovable Father was so benevolent and merciful he provides for them more generously when food is dearer: that in time of scarcity he administered bread together with other victuals more abundantly than usual to his disciples, adding this reason for his provision: "When bread begins to be more valued as provisions run short, then the desire to eat usually increases in men: whence it is necessary to administer food more generously at that time to those confined in the prison of Christ, so that they may exult and bless the name of the Lord."

[26] After, moreover, by God's disposition, the number of his disciples had grown, he reads at table, sitting on the ground: he was made not as one of them among them, but less than all of them. For as is the custom of religious life, while they sat at table in the refectory, he humbly sat upon the ground, reading the Passions of the Saints or the Lives of the Fathers, or some other edifying scripture; so that while taking the nourishment of their bodies, they might remember that saying: "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4 For he had read and committed to memory: "The greater you are, humble yourself in all things, and you shall find grace before God." Ecclesiasticus 3:20 And that: "Whoever wishes to be the greatest among you shall be the servant of all." Mark 10:43 And reclining in the lowest place among the others, he did not wish any of his disciples to rise to meet him, holding the place of a minister in person and in garb.

[27] And when the multitude of noble men who had come to hear him departed as evening drew on, he cannot be torn from the poor and the sick, as from Christ: while the crowd of the needy remained with him, he kissed the paralytic as brothers, replying to his disciples who admonished him to come away, since he was weary: "Now that Christ has come, you tell me to depart — I who have spent the day today with the powers of this world? Far be such a disgrace from me, that I should not go to meet Christ." Whence the prerogative of grace from that Father of lights, from whom is every good gift and every perfect gift, the Father Saint Stephen, so lovable to God and men, had so effectually received that, especially to his disciples, he discerns the secrets of hearts: he would most aptly tell what they were thinking and the temptations which they suffered from the devil; and how they should manfully resist evil thoughts and importunate temptations, as a devoted Father and one well concerned for their salvation, he prudently instructed them.

[28] He also instructed his disciples in many ways as to how they should respond to those who inquired about their way of life, saying to them: "Brothers, do not wonder if certain people disagree in their ways with your life: since you depart from what they hold, what he wished to be said about his Rule? and you do not wish to follow them in what they do" — not wishing mention to be made through them to critics of his regular institutions, so that no one might doubt about their regular life, since it was holy.

CHAPTER V

The Miracles, Admonitions, and Memory of Death of Saint Stephen.

[29] Frequently also, when the weakness of his disciples demanded it, lest they be submerged by the waves of this great and

spacious sea of the world, he aided them with his prayers. For his prayers were of such power before God he rescues many from danger by his prayers: that, with God's cooperation, men who had been captured could be freed from the very jaws of demons and the wicked machinations of men. That this may be made clear, let us here briefly narrate two of the many miracles which the Lord deigned to work through his prayer. A certain knight, then, was held guilty of a certain crime, who, coming to the man of God and speaking as one of the foolish, said: "I beseech you, servant of God, do not pray to the Lord for me, because I so love a certain sin to which I cling that I am by no means willing to hate or abandon it; but I fear what may happen to me if your charity should pray for me. a knight, converted by his praying for him against his will: Wherefore I ask that you not assist me in this matter. Help others, then, with your prayers, but not me at all." Having said this, the foolish knight departed. Hearing this, the faithful athlete of Christ, inflamed by the fire of charity, remained sorrowful and anxious, and entering the chapter house, having disclosed with tears the speech of the foolish knight, and himself with the Brothers praying for him without ceasing to the Lord, the sinner returned from the aforesaid folly, begging pardon and renouncing his iniquity from his heart, and vehemently sought the support of prayers from the said servant of God, that he might be able to rise from his sin. In which deed it is recognized how great was the charity of him who did not cease to pour forth prayers with tears to the Lord until he led the erring neighbor back to the way of truth.

[30] There is also another most illustrious work of his faith, not unlike this one. For when it had been reported to the holy man — the Brothers complaining and grieving — captured by robbers, that a certain man, a familiar of theirs, quite wealthy, while bringing provisions to them in the wilderness, had been betrayed by his treacherous host to two robbers who held him bound in caves so that he might ransom himself — the servant of Christ said to the Brothers: "I know, for it is manifest to Him, where the man is and how he fares; nevertheless, with bare feet let us go into the oratory, and let us implore the aid of the glorious Virgin Mother of the Lord, in whose service the man was captured. having implored the help of the Mother of God, There is no prison and no place from which she cannot restore him to us without delay." And when this had been done, behold, on the following day at dawn the treacherous host and the two robbers, bound in chains, stood knocking at the door of the cell of Muret, together with the man whom they had captured, now unbound and free. The Brother porter, seeing them, he obtains his release: secretly informed the spiritual Father, who at that very hour, as was his custom, was instructing the disciples in chapter. But the servant of Christ, dissembling the joy of his mind in his countenance, by no means interrupted the word of God which he had begun, giving the Brothers an example that they should glory not in miracles but in God alone. And then, when the sermon was completed, he released the thieves and the traitor from the chains with which they were bound and allowed them to depart safe and free.

[31] Blessed Stephen was a voluntary exile, after the example of Abraham, going forth from his land and from his kindred, he generously assists the poor, generous in alms, assiduous in vigils, devout in prayer, perfect in charity, committing his hope to God and setting nothing before the love of God; maintaining temperance in prosperity and patience in adversity: from whom no poor person ever departed empty; perpetually turning over in his mind what God says in the Gospel: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Matthew 5:7 And that: "Give alms, and behold, all things are clean unto you"; because just as water extinguishes fire, so alms extinguish sin; and of Blessed Job it is read: "His door lay open to every comer." Luke 11:41 Ecclesiasticus 3:33 And thus he himself could cry out with Blessed Job in a free voice: "My door was open to the traveler." Job 31:32 He was a foot to the lame and an eye to the blind, a father of orphans and a consoler of widows. Those things, moreover, which he received from the parish itself, he spent on the poor of that same parish where he dwelt, not on strangers, saying: especially to the local inhabitants: "We have come to this place in the stead of these poor people from elsewhere, receiving the alms due to them: which, if we can, it is fitting to return to them."

[32] But after reading, in which he was supremely occupied, knowing that by reading the understanding is increased and intelligence bestowed — because reading teaches what is to be avoided — he sowed virtues among the people, words overflowing with the fruit of faith, seasoned with a sufficient salt of discretion, as though infused with aromatic ointments; he exhorts all to virtue: insisting, according to the Apostle, in season and out of season, reproving, beseeching, and rebuking, with all patience and teaching; and after the manner of Blessed John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness, he reproved the sinners who came to him for their sins, applying to them worthy remedies of discourse, and where it was salutary showing the plaster of confession against the wounds of the Enemy. But when he saw a sinner trembling, he would say to him: "My brother, do not be afraid; you cannot overcome God, so as to be more able to sin than He to forgive. Certainly the Apostle Peter had not yet perfectly considered the wiles of the devil when he asked Christ whether he should forgive a brother sinning seven times. But Jesus multiplied the pardon, not attending to the ignorance of His disciple."

[33] Such things he said to the penitent; to the obstinate and those who defended themselves he was strict and severe, yet never departing from moderation; using rigor in the examination of justice, and mercy in the definition of the sentence; and the breaches of discipline and transgressions of his disciples from his right rule he reproved gently, he corrects the faults of his followers: and bore with them patiently as much as was due and fitting. And there was in him a wonderful discretion in all his works, and an unchangeable love toward all, consoling the sorrowful and showing what was to be done, urging his subjects with eager zeal toward eternal life; for he often said to his subjects: "Therefore you ought to have left behind what you possessed outwardly, so that you might clearly see what you are inwardly, by no means remaining here, but passing on by dying to another place. Whence I see less reason why you should wish for more when some sort of sustenance suffices. Love poverty, therefore; he commends poverty. always having fear concerning your substance, lest you be unable to spend it well according to the Lord's will. But of those things which you do not have, you are secure, because you will not render an account for them."

[34] But this does not nullify spiritual poverty, if someone desires that by which he may serve God alone, Alms, how they are to be received. and is prepared to do injury to no one for the sake of the same reputation. The Patriarch Jacob asked for the necessities of sustenance: bread to eat and clothing to put on. Nevertheless, the servant of Christ by no means rejected the alms of anyone, even those given by the poor. Indeed, he maintained that they ought to be accepted more readily, saying to any one of the Brothers these words: "Do you not see what poverty instructs you to do? He wishes to gain Christ with you, most lovingly persuading you, because he stretches out his arms in giving alms, and undoubtedly looks for his reward from another. Accept his gift, therefore, with joy; and immediately, if you can, return to him more abundantly; advising him to praise God, because the patrimony entrusted to God is neither seized by the state, nor invaded by the treasury, nor overturned by any forensic litigation."

[35] He himself also, of all the good things he had done, attributed nothing to his own merits, nor ever presumed anything in his own strength; but always referring all his work to God, he implored His aid in all his actions, and gave a salutary example from his own good conduct, being made a pattern for the flock from his heart, he shines before others by his example: knowing that what anyone teaches is not worthy of praise unless he has joined deeds to words; but rather, if he does what he teaches, it is held more glorious for him. Therefore the Father was lovable to God and men, doing what he taught and teaching what he did, nor producing one thing with his mouth while revolving another in his heart; but what he taught by mouth he confirmed by deed, after the example of the Apostle who says: "I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps after preaching to others, I myself should be found reprobate." 1 Corinthians 9:27 With the greatest goodness also he governed his subjects, and with the greatest severity he mastered himself.

[36] Furthermore, having thus set forth the purpose of his sanctity, Saint Stephen by persevering showed himself to be a future vessel of election, useful to God, prepared for every good work. And in all his conduct, shining like the Morning Star among the stars, he glowed with splendor, robust in virtue; he so exercised himself as though he were always beginning, and so conducted himself as though he were about to die every day. always mindful of death, For the last day was always before his eyes, and his mind always meditated on heavenly things; he feared the dangers of others as his own, and judged the falls of others to be his own; he always contemplated the end of his life; devoting himself to vigils, prayers, sighs, groans, tears, and preparing himself for it, genuflections, fasts, and alms, he studiously flourished in the spiritual life and salutary doctrine, and gave forth a sweet odor; on the wings of holy contemplation he frequently flew upward, and by ardent desire he dwelt in the heavens. Moreover, he continually strove to repel the invisible enemy by prayers, fighting with his mouth, not with a sword, with prayers, not with weapons. And on all days and at all hours of the day he besought protection, that after the light of this world he might be worthy to come to the prize. resisting the devil, For the enemy of the human race could not find in him anything that he might deceive by fraud or darken by pretense: for whatever good things he had seized upon in the beginning, he suffered himself to be entangled by no affairs until the end of his life; but preserving his purpose whole and sound, he changed in no respect the rule he had begun, carrying the Cross of the Lord in mind and body. steadfast in good. He was anxious for one thing above all: to lead sinners back to the way of truth, wishing to benefit all and to harm none. He strove to show himself a sanctified vessel, so that he might have the Lord as an inhabitant in the dwelling of his mind, and run after Him in the odor of His ointments; and when the contest of his life was ended, to appear before His face. Come, then, dearest ones, let us most devoutly entreat that by the imitation and prayers of so great a Father, He may grant us to advance in such a way that we may deserve to be partakers of his perpetual felicity.

TRANSLATION OF SAINT STEPHEN.

Stephen, Founder of the Grandmontine Order in Gaul (Saint)

[1] When the body of the most holy Stephen had been given to burial, the Brothers from their convent concordantly elected one of their number, Under the second Prior, Peter, a holy man, namely Peter of Limoges, as Prior and spiritual Father. He had ^apreviously been a venerable priest in the world, and afterwards, in the religious life, being a zealous follower of the paternal tradition and of the vow which he had made, he was dear and lovable to God and men. Under his governance, as the flock of the Lord grew in numbers, the monks of the village of Ambazac, of the Abbey of Saint Augustine of Limoges, began to bring a claim against the ^bplace of Muret, in which the Brothers served the Grandmontines harassed by other monks, and had long served with their most holy Father. But those who would rather give up their cloak to one who took their tunic than have anything by which they might be drawn to litigation and the custom of disputes, they seek another place: took care to seek diligently another place where they might suitably establish the head of their religious order and serve God sincerely, freely, and quietly.

[2] When therefore various places had been diligently traversed by the Brothers, yet none found suitable, while all pray together at Mass, at length, divinely illuminated, they all unanimously entered upon a wholesome plan: namely, that the Prior should celebrate Mass with all humility and devotion, and together with all the Brothers should supplicate the Lord with heartfelt affection, that He might mercifully advise them and not delay to indicate what they were asking. O wondrous clemency of God, and worthy to be commended to perpetual memory! Envy could perhaps contrive a charge against the servants of God; but whence it wished to oppress them, thence it more greatly expanded them. For the immense and ineffable providence of the heavenly dispensation had prepared for them from the foundation of the world a place more spacious and more suitable both in situation and in name for the observance of a religious manner of life; the name of which place they also deserved to hear by a divine voice. For when the Prior, as had been agreed, was celebrating Mass, and the Agnus Dei had been sung three times, and both he and all the other Brothers were most ardently beseeching the Lord, a certain heavenly voice was heard saying: Grandmont is indicated by a heavenly voice: ^c"At Grandmont, At Grandmont, At Grandmont." This most blessed voice indeed the Prior and several of the Brothers heard. When Mass was ended, the Prior asked the Brothers whether they had heard the heavenly voice. And when one of them immediately said, "I heard it saying three times, 'At Grandmont,'" and others likewise, all rejoiced and were consoled and strengthened abundantly, and eagerly strove to marvel at and praise the Giver of Divine goodness on account of the glorious happiness of the revelation. And because at Grandmont the soldiers of Christ were always going to fight against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, lest they lose the things of heaven, fittingly was the name of that place heard there, where the victory which Christ won over the ancient enemy of the human race is celebrated daily.

[3] Proceeding therefore to the place discovered by Divine revelation, quite close to Muret, they built a church and houses to dwell in with all haste, at the command of the Lord, whose it was. they migrate there with the body of Saint Stephen: When these had been in some fashion put together in a humble style, they returned to Muret, where some of the Brothers had remained; and taking up the glorious body of the most holy Father, they translated it to Grandmont, and concealed it beneath the presbytery before the altar, with few knowing.

[4] It was afterwards translated on June 25: In the time, however, of Lord Bernard, the fifth Prior of Grandmont, when a general chapter had been assembled at Grandmont, the Translation of the body of the most blessed Stephen was celebrated on the day following the Nativity of the Precursor and Herald of the Lord and Savior; at which there was present a certain Brother named William, who was anxiously afflicted by an excessive deafness of both ears. When he heard that the Saint of God was being carried by the aforesaid Prior and by the entire convent from the cloister into the church, he quickly approached the sarcophagus, where he found the shoes of Saint Stephen; and taking them, a deaf man healed through his shoes: he began to put his fingers inside the shoes and to extract from them whatever he could find, and transferred it to his ears. And when he had done this for a long time, full of good faith and hope, he truly recovered the hearing which he had lost.

[5] The cloth also, in which the holy relics of his bones had been wrapped, the cloth in which the relics were wrapped cannot be burned: having been cast once and again and yet again into the fire by the priest who had wrapped them in a more decent cloth, could not be burned. And likewise a certain disciple of Saint Stephen, who had lost the sight of his eyes, prostrating himself and praying at his sepulchre, recovered his former sight.

[6] When Raymond de Plantadis, a knight, had lost the use of half his body through a paralytic disease, he had himself carried to Grandmont: a blind man recovers his sight at the relics: and being almost entirely carried to the church by a certain son of his on one side and by the second Prior of Grandmont on the other, after he placed his feet upon the stone beneath which the body of Saint Stephen was buried before the altar, he cried out in a free voice, saying: "Leave me, do not help me; for in this place where I set my feet I have just now been made well. I tell you indeed a paralytic healed. that some Saint lies buried here, for the love and merits of whom God has bestowed health upon me."

REVELATION OF SAINT STEPHEN.

Stephen, Founder of the Grandmontine Order in Gaul (Saint)

BHL Number: 7911

By Gerard, from manuscripts.

[1] When the Order of Grandmont, long after the passing of the most blessed Stephen, Confessor of Christ, The elevation and canonization of Saint Stephen is sought from Clement III. had multiplied among the peoples in religion and sanctity by the bountiful grace of God, and persisted in great peace, charity, and honor, with no small prosperity, ^aGerard, the seventh Prior of Grandmont, having taken counsel with two hundred and twenty clerics and sixty lay Brothers assembled at Grandmont for the election of the said Prior, sent two Brothers ^bwith letters of many prelates and princes to obtain the elevation of Blessed Stephen the Confessor from Pope ^cClement III.

[2] Clement, having seen the letters of such great prelates and princes, took care to faithfully carry out the business of the elevation of the said Saint, by God's disposition, believing that if he could accomplish such a great work in his time, he would perpetually obtain a great reward from God through the merits of Blessed Stephen. And having taken counsel with the Brothers of his sacred college, the aforesaid Pope Clement III proceeded to the elevation of the said Saint Stephen in this manner: who, following an inquisition into miracles previously conducted, "Since our predecessor of good memory, Urban, having heard the report of the religious life and the praiseworthy purity of life by which Stephen of holy memory, the founder of the Order of Grandmont, had shone forth, and by such great testimonies of miracles almighty God had willed to declare his merits to the world, wished to entrust to the Legates whom he had dispatched to the regions of Gaul for the transaction of certain affairs of the Church a full investigation concerning these matters, so that from their testimony and that of other men to whom faith was undoubtedly to be given, at the request of the King of England, he might proceed to do what should seem fitting both for the advantage of the faithful and for the honor of that holy man, who had hitherto lain hidden like a gem in a dunghill; We also, by the testimony of our most dear son in Christ, ^dHenry, the illustrious King of the English, and also of our venerable brothers the Cardinals and many other bishops, being more fully instructed concerning the life, he legitimately declares him a Saint: merits, and manner of living in which the oft-mentioned holy man is asserted to have flourished, and that Divine mercy willed to distinguish him by many signs of miracles, we have seen fit to entrust the execution of this matter to the judgment of our beloved son ^eJohn, Cardinal Priest of the title of San Marco and Legate of the Apostolic See, commanding him by Apostolic letters that, proceeding to Grandmont, he should announce on our behalf that we have enrolled him among the Saints, henceforth to be numbered in the catalogue of Saints, and that we have decreed that through his merits the suffrages of the Redeemer should be sought together with the intercessions of the other Saints."

[3] His body is elevated. When therefore many archbishops, bishops, abbots, and religious men, and an innumerable multitude of people, had been convened by the said Legate at Grandmont together with the said Legate, the body of the most blessed Stephen the Confessor was elevated with due honor from the place where it lay buried beneath the presbytery before the altar; with the people going before and following with hymns and praises it is escorted, then and there a lame mute is healed: and honorably placed upon the altar of the church of Grandmont of the Blessed Virgin Mary. When therefore the Archbishop of Bourges, by the command of the said Lord Legate, was devoutly celebrating Mass in honor of the aforesaid Saint Stephen the Confessor, a certain boy who had been lame and mute from his mother's womb, and had withered hands, by the power of God and the merits of Saint Stephen began to speak and walk and to move his hands at will. one afflicted with a swelling of the neck:

[4] After whom a young man having so great a tumor on his neck that he could not turn his face in any direction except together with his whole body, nor look upward, because his chin remained glued and joined to his breast, having a withered hand: was entirely healed of the aforesaid tumor before Mass by the merits of the same Saint. And a certain girl who had a crooked and withered right hand from her mother's womb, coming with the others to Grandmont, while she prayed, obtained by the power of God and the merits of Saint Stephen her hand, which she had previously had withered and crooked, now extended and erect for making the sign of the cross, with her fingers separated from one another. And a certain man named Stephen, another blind man: of the village of Saint-Hilaire near the monastery of Benevento, who had been blind from birth, the only son of his widowed and very poor mother, by praying at the sepulchre of the same Saint Stephen, received his sight.

[5] A dead man is raised by the merits of Saint Stephen: At these miracles the church is filled with cries; the wonders of God are marveled at and extolled; the merits of Blessed Stephen are seen and praised. Among other innumerable miracles by which Divine mercy willed to distinguish Blessed Stephen, it happened that while the church of Grandmont was being built, a great stone carried aloft fell and struck Gerard, the master of the work, whom it crushed and killed. ^fThis Gerard indeed, at the tearful prayers of Lord Stephen of Lisiac, the fourth Prior of Grandmont, and of the Brothers praying at the sepulchre of Saint Stephen, was restored to his former life. likewise other miracles: ^g

[6] And when a certain man of the territory of Poitiers was coming with his wife, named Petronilla, on the feast of that Saint to the Brothers of ^hBois-d'Aulonne, and his wife, falling from a beast of burden that had set down its foot carelessly, had expired; the said man crying out with tears, "Saint Stephen of God, help me; now let your goodness appear in restoring to me my wife"; by Divine command she herself replied: "Alas, my lord, were you anxious for me? Certainly I was well; I was much better off." Then the man, exulting, lifted her onto the beast, and with joy they reached their destination. another cured of sacred fire:

[7] Furthermore, a certain knight of the territory of Limoges, his foot afflicted by the disease of infernal fire, coming to the tomb of that holy man, carried by the hands of his men, praying and washing with water the stone beneath which the body of the said Saint Stephen was buried, and pouring the same water upon the ulcer, he immediately obtained the extinction of the fire, the healing of his foot, and the mitigation of his pain.

[8] And also a certain man named ⁱReginald, of the same territory of Limoges, returning from a visit to the houses of Grandmont, a fire suppressed: Muret, and ^kPlaigne, to his village, seeing that village in which he dwelt suddenly catch fire, by praying to God that through the merits of His servant Stephen He would free his house with all its furnishings from the fire,

obtained that the fire did not dare to harm even a single straw of his house.

[9] What shall I say? The blind are brought to the tomb of the same Saint and are illuminated, very many other miracles performed. the lame are brought and are cured, the mute and they are healed, the possessed and they are freed, the deranged and they are restored, the sick and they are healed, the dead and they are raised, the deaf and they are aided: of the multitude of which miracles let a few things suffice, lest the prolixity of words be burdensome to the hearers.

MIRACLES OF SAINT STEPHEN

from the French Life by Charles Fremon.

Stephen, Founder of the Grandmontine Order in Gaul (Saint)

From Charles Fremon.

[1] It is worth setting forth here some miracles of Saint Stephen published by Charles Fremon, linked to one another by no fixed order, but gathered piecemeal.

A certain Gerard, an inhabitant of a nearby village, came to Muret and reported to the Saint that his wife was ill at home, and that he had no means to support himself or her, since he had to attend her day and night and could therefore do no more work: wherefore he must abandon her Money given by Saint Stephen to a poor man is multiplied: if he himself wished to live. Stephen, pitying the man, admonished him not to abandon her, having promised the contrary when he entered into marriage: let him place his hope in the aid of God, who forsakes no one. At the same time he bestowed upon him bread and a silver coin, and promised that with it both his wife and his entire household would be sufficiently sustained. Gerard returned home cheerful, and while he showed his wife what he had received from Stephen, the coins were so multiplied in his hand that he could not retain them all in his hand, but many fell to the ground. Nor did that money fail him as long as his wife lived. Gerard himself thereafter both gave thanks to Stephen and offered at Muret coins from that divinely multiplied money, which were long carefully preserved in memory of the miracle.

[2] Boso, a nobleman, at Muret requested bread blessed on Holy Thursday: diseases cured by bread received from him, which, having been offered to him by Saint Stephen, he most reverently preserved; and afterwards he distributed portions of it to the sick, all of whom were restored to health. He widely publicized those miracles. The custom still flourishes that in the Grandmontine and other monasteries of the Order, on that day bread is blessed which was blessed on Holy Thursday: for the relief of the poor and the sick, which many others eagerly seek in competition.

[3] After the annual celebration of the Translation of Saint Stephen had been established in the year 1167, very many miracles occurred in various places. a house preserved from fire by his aid: When a great fire had broken out in the metropolitan city of Sens, and very many houses had already been reduced to ashes, a certain Genulphus, a Canon of the Cathedral Church, very devoted to Saint Stephen — as one who had already built a monastery for his Order from his own resources — shut himself in his house, and could not be prevailed upon by any prayers of friends and servants to leave, saying that he would prove how profitable it was to be devoted to the Grandmontine Order and the veneration of Saint Stephen; and that he confidently trusted that his dwelling would be preserved by the Saint's protection. So it happened; for when all the surrounding buildings had been devastated by fire, his house suffered no harm at all.

[4] At about the same time, Petronilla — as was narrated above in the history of the Revelation, number 6 — going with her husband to the Brothers of the House of Bois-d'Aulonne, having fallen from her mount and broken her neck, was recalled to life by the aid of Saint Stephen. Another matron at Limoges, especially devoted to the Brothers of Puy-Gibert, who bestowed many alms upon them, having fallen ill, when she felt herself gradually being brought to the end by the force of the disease, a dead woman raised so that she might receive the Sacraments: asked her son to see to her being fortified by the Sacraments. The boy summoned a priest, but returning home, he found his mother dead. Grieving, therefore, he spent the entire night in prayers. At dawn, when he approached his mother's bed, he found her alive, repeatedly asking that he not allow her to die without the protection of the Sacraments. The priest was summoned again and administered the Sacraments to her; she died shortly after, piously and peacefully.

[5] A nobleman from Gascony, captured and thrown into prison by William Gordon, turned to seeking the aid of Saint Stephen, whose assiduous devotee he was: he spent several nights in prayers. On a certain night the Saint appeared to him, freed him from his bonds, a captive freed, the Saint appearing: and bade him leap through the window into the moats of the fortress; thence he led him to the river Dordogne and placed him in a skiff found there by chance. In it he crossed the river, and came to the monastery of Vessiere while matins were being chanted: when these were finished, he related the prodigy and invited them to give thanks with him to God and their holy Father.

[6] At the time when the canonization of Saint Stephen was being celebrated, a procession was also arranged through the portico or cloister of the monastery: in which a nobleman, carrying the bier with others quartan fever healed; in which the relics were contained, by imploring the Saint's aid, was freed from the quartan fever from which he had long been suffering.

[7] Certain Normans, aroused by the fame of the miracles, returning from Rocamadour in Quercy, paralysis: where there is a church celebrated for its devotion to the Blessed Virgin, turned aside to Grandmont, both to venerate the Saint and to witness those sacred ceremonies of the apotheosis. Among them was a woman whose hand had long been loosed by paralysis; as soon as she touched the place where the relics were, it was restored to its former vigor.

[8] three given sight, a lame person healed, At the same time two boys — one received the power of walking, the other his sight; a girl received the sight of which she had been deprived for eight years; another girl likewise, from whose eyes, while she was praying, in the sight of all, scales fell which had previously been as hard as crystal. A boy also, wasted by consumptive fever, consumptive, was perfectly restored to health. A woman from the village of Montgay, Jeanne Burgeole, brought her son to the tomb of the Saint, maimed, and with his face dreadfully disfigured, his teeth and jaws so distorted maimed and distorted; that he could neither chew food nor speak properly: all of which bodily defects were corrected by the Saint's aid, at the mother's prayers.

[9] A poor inhabitant of the village of Ambazac had a son so deprived from birth of the use of his shins that he crept rather than walked. Encouraged by his neighbors he came with him to Grandmont, a boy deprived of the use of his legs, but with insufficiently firm confidence: wherefore when he had spent two or three days there in vain prayers, he returned home. His neighbors rebuked him for having cast aside hope at so slight a setback, and by their words prevailed upon him to bring his son back. He obeyed indeed in appearance, though his father lacked confidence, but secretly withdrawing, he abandoned the boy in the midst of the crowd of people, not at all confident that he would be healed. But contrary to his expectation it happened. Again and again the boy invoked Saint Stephen, as he was taught by passers-by; and he soon acquired the firmest gait, before the eyes of the entire people.

[10] a madman, A certain madman, brought there by his mother, recovered the use of his reason on the third day. A young man had been confined to his bed for an entire year by an incurable illness: a sick man, he heard of the miracles of Saint Stephen; he requested to be carried there, poured forth his prayers, and was immediately restored to his strength. A certain young man of Limoges, named Stephen, who had been deprived from birth of the use of his legs, one deprived of the use of his legs: obtained the use of his legs at the tomb of Saint Stephen: which event was so welcome to his parents that they voluntarily vowed that he would serve God for his entire life in the same Order.

[11] In the same city of Limoges, at the same time, the prayers of two sons poured forth to Saint Stephen recalled their dead father to life, a dead man raised: and they, as proof of so great a miracle, offered at Grandmont a shroud sent by their father. Another woman brought a wax candle the size of her son, two dying persons healed; to whom, when he was already breathing his last, a vow made by her to the Saint had brought salvation. The same befell another boy at Solignac, at his parents' prayers. a lame girl, A lame girl at Limoges could neither go to Grandmont, lacking the strength, nor had she the means to have herself carried there: with great hope she invoked the Saint in her own home and was immediately healed.

[12] The grandmother of that boy whom we said above, in number 4 of the history of the Revelation, was healed at Grandmont at the time of Mass, was afflicted by importunate deafness: she therefore bade her daughter, the same boy's mother, go with bare feet to the tomb of the Saint a deaf woman, and pray for her hearing to be restored. The daughter obeyed, and returning home found her mother completely well.

[13] Eight days after the celebration of the canonization, when the concourse of people to venerate the relics of the Saint was still immense, on the very day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, five miracles are recorded as having occurred there. five sick persons, A certain man also came at that time, proclaiming that he had been freed from a great debility by which, for more than a year, he had been so confined to his bed a debilitated man, that he could move neither foot nor hand — freed as soon as he vowed to come to the tomb of the Saint. On the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a youth of twelve years a mute, was endowed at those same relics with the faculty of speech, of which he had hitherto been deprived.

[14] On the feast of Saint Michael, in the town of Egletons, in the midst of the busy market a dying man, sprinkled with water by the Saint appearing to him, which was then being held there, a certain Andrew, born in that same town, was seized by a sudden illness so violent that he was thought about to breathe his last. In his mind, since he could not in words, he invoked Saint Stephen and made vows to him; when suddenly he sees him coming to him in the form of an old man, clothed in garments whiter than snow, carrying in his hand a bowl full of water, with which he washed the sick man's body and wiped away all his illness, and at the same time suffused his soul with such pleasure that he seemed to himself already to be enjoying the delights of heaven. So he reported when he came to Grandmont to fulfill his vows. another freed from quinsy by the Saint appearing: A certain youth from the village of Aureil had for three days been seized by a fatal quinsy, so that he could neither speak nor eat, and could scarcely even draw breath. His widowed mother made a vow to Saint Stephen for her son's recovery, on that same feast of Saint Michael. Saint Stephen immediately appeared in the garb of a pilgrim, accompanied by two companions, and touched the sick man's throat with three fingers and restored it to health, the marks of his fingers remaining on his neck, which two hundred religious easily saw.

[15] At the same time two noblemen — of whom one, born in the town of Saint-Junien near Limoges, two captives freed: was named Peter, and the other had the surname Ithier and was a kinsman of Gerard Ithier, Prior of Grandmont — were captured by a certain Gerard who was ravaging the entire region with cruel brigandage, and were held loaded with chains in a foul dungeon for two months. At length, admonished by heavenly inspiration, they implored Divine aid through a particle of the Holy Cross which was preserved at Grandmont and through the merits of Saint Stephen. When the prayer was uttered, the chains of Ithier fell to the ground; those of the other were so loosened that he could depart with them still on; for at the same time the doors were divinely opened. They came therefore to a certain house of the Order called Castanelle, whence three days later they were conducted by the religious to Grandmont, where the chains of one of them were hung before the tomb of Saint Stephen and were long a spectacle to pilgrims who frequented the place. one of them later at death's door: The same Ithier, brought to the point of death by a grave illness, when those present invoked the patronage of Saint Stephen, was immediately free of the disease and of every trace of it.

[16] In the same year a certain knight came to Grandmont with his brother, the Abbot of Solignac, to give thanks to Saint Stephen, by whose aid he had been freed from quartan fever. Others also came to give thanks, one suffering from quartan fever, another sick person: sent by the Lady of Saint-Baudile in the diocese of Rodez, whose son had been freed from a difficult disease through Saint Stephen. In the bishopric of Lodeve a dead boy was recalled to life as soon as his parents implored the aid of Saint Stephen; and they then placed a wax statue in a certain monastery of the same Order in honor of Saint Stephen, equal in size to the boy's stature, which was long preserved in memory of so great an event.

[17] A peasant of the village of Boissac had with criminal intent torn up and burned the crosses which the Brothers of the monastery of Cluse had fixed to mark the boundaries of their woodlands. a sacrilegious man is seized by a demon, freed by Saint Stephen, Wherefore, with the Deity taking vengeance, a demon seized him; from which, however, he was freed at the tomb of Saint Stephen. The wife of the Lord of Roquecissiere among the Ruteni had already been given up by the physicians; she asked her husband to make a vow to Saint Stephen on her behalf. When the vow had been made as piously as possible, Stephen appeared to the sick woman, attended by a not inconsiderable company of religious of his Order, as also another woman near death: and grasping her hand, he said: "Arise, you shall not die." And she felt herself entirely restored to health. A wax statue of the woman, equal to her stature, was sent to the tomb of Saint Stephen and was long preserved there.

[18] a captive freed: A band of soldiers was marauding on the borders of Grandmont; by them the priest of the parish of Saint-Sauveur was captured and led to Ambazac, where he suffered many harsh things to compel him to pay an exorbitant ransom. There he prayed to Saint Stephen thus: "I was captured near your sepulchre, holy Father, at which I have seen so many prodigies performed; do not now despise me, nor allow me alone to be exempt from your aid." He had scarcely spoken these words when he saw the doors of the house in which he was confined opened and his chains loosed; and going forth, he brought those chains to the tomb of Saint Stephen.

[19] There was a certain Bernard, an associate of the House of Puy-Gibert in Quercy, a dying man: as we said above that certain laymen were called their familiars, though not members of the household. When his son was already at the point of death, a certain priest, the boy's godfather, and other friends who were present, asked the father to make a vow to Saint Stephen, promising to join their prayers to his. While this was being done, the boy cried out: "Where has my guide gone?" When his friends asked what he meant, he said: "A certain old man, grasping my hand, said, 'Come to the tomb of Saint Stephen, and you will recover'; but he suddenly abandoned me as I was following." No one doubted that this was Stephen, especially since the boy was healed in an instant; he afterwards came with his father to Grandmont and gave thanks to the Saint.

[20] A certain associate or familiar of the Brothers of the monastery of Entrefins had a fine house near Montmorillon. Fire, which had seized all the neighboring houses, surrounded it on every side. another house preserved from fire. He thereupon took refuge in the aid of Saint Stephen, and did not, as the others did, carry anything out of his house, but said: "Holy Father, you know how faithfully I serve you and yours: therefore come to my aid and preserve this house, which is no less yours and your followers' than mine." The fire, having reduced almost the entire village to ashes, did not touch even a straw belonging to that house.