CONCERNING THE HOLY VIRGIN AND MARTYR SURA, OR SOTERIS, OR ZUWARDA, AT DORDRECHT IN HOLLAND.
A HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Sura, or Soteris, or Zuwarda, Virgin Martyr at Dordrecht in Holland (Saint)
By I. B.
Section I. The origin of the city of Dordrecht; the church built there by Saint Sura; her martyrdom, veneration, and miraculous font.
[1] Dordrecht, or Dordrechtum, is an ancient and wealthy city of Holland, about whose name, origin, and distinction Marcus Zuerius Boxhornius writes carefully and learnedly in his Theatre of Holland. Saint Sura killed at Dordrecht, Among other things he adduces the following from the unpublished papers of Johannes Gerbrand of Leiden: "Moreover, in that same town, in the course of time, a certain Virgin is said to have been slain, having built a church, named Soteris, but Zuwaerdt in the Teutonic tongue. This Virgin is reported to have built the church of Dordrecht, buying the necessary materials with three coins and always finding them again in her purse. When three workmen slew her in hope of the money (where there is her miraculous font) — which they supposed the Virgin to possess in abundance — and found only three coins, behold, a spring leapt forth from the earth, efficacious against infirmities and various diseases. The date of this Virgin is unknown to the people, but the spring is open to view in Dordrecht."
[2] They say that the church she built was the greater basilica of the town, perhaps in the eleventh century commonly known as such, dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God — of which more below. I would more readily believe that some smaller church was built there by her, and that afterward, when the city had increased in the number of its inhabitants and in wealth, that larger one was founded as a splendid structure. Thus we see at Mechelen, at Lier, and elsewhere, magnificent churches constructed that differ from those which Saints Rumold, Gomar, and others had once built. May not the "newly constructed chapel of Dordrecht," mentioned in a diploma of Emperor Henry given in the year 1064, be the one that Saint Sura built? Although in that same year a distinguished building is also attested by the same author, from an ancient record, to have been constructed at Dordrecht.
[3] Although Gerbrand confesses that the time in which Sura lived is unknown, he nevertheless shows that she did not live before the ninth century of the Christian era, or the tenth, since he places Dorotheus — from whom he derives the origin and name of Dordrecht — in the year 805, and then this holy Virgin afterward, "in the course of time," as he says. not before the ninth. Perhaps she lived in the tenth century or even the eleventh, if (as we have reported) in the eighth year of Emperor Henry III, that is, 1064, the Chapel of Dordrecht had been newly constructed. Miraeus, however, in the Belgian Fasti writes that she flourished about the year 1300. Laherius in the Menology of Virgins says she was killed in the year 1320.
[4] Molanus, in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium, from information he received at Dordrecht, devoted to the Blessed Virgin, narrates the history of Saint Sura thus: "This city is in the diocese of Utrecht, the chief city of Holland, in which a holy Virgin, born of most honorable parents, merciful, is celebrated as the foundress of the greater church. For she is reported to have venerated with singular affection an image of the Virgin Mother of God hanging from a tree above the stream of Dordrecht, having received the plan of the church from heaven, and to have distributed to the poor whatever she earned. When she wished to build a church, she learned its dimensions from an Angel; and she paid three workmen with as many coins, called kopkens, of small size but great value. Because she was thought to be wealthy, she lost the enjoyment of the present life at the hands of robbers, and the means of building: at the place where today a most pleasant spring, a remedy for those with fever, flows forth." Antonius Balinghem records the same in the words of Molanus in his Marian Calendar.
[5] What Molanus calls the stream of Dordrecht, Boxhornius calls the river Dortha, following Rutgersius's elegant conjecture. For the city itself is called Dort in the vernacular, and the neighboring village Dordsmonde — as if you were to say "the mouth of the Dort," this occurred at the river of Dordrecht, just as elsewhere Dendermonde, Rupelmonde, Roermond, etc., are towns or fortresses situated at or opposite the mouths of the rivers Dender, Rupel, and Roer. He adds Scriverius's conjecture, who holds that this was the very place to which Reginar, Count of Hainault, withdrew after being stripped of his honors by King Zwentibold and ordered to leave the Lotharingian realm or the Dort, in the year 898. For, as the Annals of Metz have it — in agreement with Regino and others — [the fortification of Reginar, Count of Hainault, against Zwentibold at the place commonly called Durfos:] "he entered a certain most secure place called Durfos, and there fortified himself, having joined to himself Count Odacer and certain others, with women and children and all their possessions. When the King learned of this, having assembled his army, he attempted to storm the fortress, but was by no means able to prevail because of the marshes and the multiple backwaters which the river Meuse creates in that place." commonly called Durfos: That this description fits the situation of Dordrecht, no one will easily deny. In addition, after Zwentibold had fruitlessly besieged the place, when meanwhile Charles the Simple, King of France, had entered his realm and come to Aachen and thence to Nijmegen, Zwentibold withdrew to Franco, Bishop of Liege — that is, through present-day Brabant — and, reinforced with new troops, crossed the Meuse and led his forces against Charles, who had come from Nijmegen to Prum. But Scriverius says that instead of Durfos, one should read Durtos, or "the mouth of the Dort." No one indeed has hitherto been able to show me — though I have often inquired about Durfos — any other location. Let those judge who are able to inspect each place firsthand.
[6] I return to Saint Sura. Molanus continues concerning her: "The captured robbers were led to the Judge's court; but the Martyr, appearing with a fresh wound on her neck Saint Sura frees her murderers from death (for her throat had been pierced by a knife), obtained pardon for the penitents. I saw her image in the public way and on two altars of the collegiate church, showing a bloodied throat and holding in her hand a fish-knife, how was she killed? as far as I recall."
[7] If anyone should inquire by what right she is called a Martyr, who did not meet death in defense of the faith or of any other virtue, let him who asks this consult by what title is she a Martyr? (for not everything need be repeated everywhere) what was said on February 8 in the Life of Saint Mengold, section 1. Surely for this pious Virgin, divine favor was the cause of her death, which gave wicked men the occasion to suppose that she abounded in money — the same thing that happened to Saint Rumold while he was building the church at Mechelen.
[8] What is reported concerning the font of Saint Sura, Boxhornius refers to certain hot or tepid waters of some kind, of which he claims there were very many formerly in Holland; heretics, having dismissed her story, argue her font is natural; yet he does not adduce the passages or words of the annals he cites. "When certain people saw," he says, "that those waters were beneficial to the health of very many, and — as the fame increased, as is wont to happen — were celebrated by the throng of people flocking from every quarter, they easily invented this little story, in keeping with the piety of those times, confident of the credulity of the faithful." So writes Boxhornius, a man not of evil nature, yet alien to the rites of the Catholic Church and the veneration of the heavenly Saints, and writing in a place and time when, had he approved of the piety of his ancestors, or even had he not criticized it with a single word, he perceived that the hatred of certain men would remain with him — men he considered he must strive to please. The same author holds concerning the name of this holy woman that she was called Zuwarda or Zura from zuueren, which signifies "to cleanse" or "to purify" for us.
[9] Of greater weight for us is the authority of Wilhelm Lindanus of Dordrecht, Bishop of Roermond, a most holy and most learned man, who writes thus concerning the font of his fellow citizen Saint Sura in part 2 of his Apologeticus ad Germanos, chapter 50: Lindanus the Bishop holds it miraculous, "As we learn from daily experience, certain springs or wells possess a prompt curative power and use against diseases or fevers — such as the ever-living spring of Saint Sura at Dordrecht, continually agitated by its leaping flow; from the drinking of which I remember, as a boy, a certain N. being healed, when a friend who had been received in my father's house happened to send someone to draw water from it." and proves it. "So too the spring of Saint Genevieve in Paris, and of Saint Verona at Leuven." Here he says nothing about tepid waters. This spring, or well, of Saint Sura was moreover in the cemetery of the greater church, covered over; and from it very many daily drew water for the cure of diseases, and especially of fevers. It has now been blocked up by the heretics.
[10] The name of Saint Sura is inscribed in the more recent Belgian Martyrologies. The name of Saint Sura in the Martyrologies, Our Andreas Boeius has thus: "At Dordrecht, the commemoration of Saint Sura, Virgin and Martyr." There is added in the Martyrology published in French at Liege in the year 1624: "most celebrated for miracles." Our Baldwin Willot: "At Dordrecht there was formerly held the commemoration of Saint Sura, or Soteris, Virgin and Martyr," etc. Molanus in the Additions to Usuard: "At Dordrecht, the commemoration of Saint Sura, Virgin and Martyr, under the name Soteris, which translated into Latin means Salvatrix Savioress." Miraeus also mentions her on this day in his Fasti. And Saussay with a notable eulogy in the Martyrologium Gallicanum — but I do not know from where he obtained his statement that she bade farewell to the enticements and vanities of the world from infancy. Simon Martin received the same from him in book 4 of the Flos Solitudinis.
[11] Concerning that commemoration, Molanus writes thus in his Index of the Saints of Belgium and in his Natales: "The aforesaid church (of Dordrecht) calls her Soteris, and veneration under the name Soteris: and by the Collect celebrates her memory on the day of Scholastica the Virgin, February 10. But I still do not know from what time, and by the authority of what See, this commemoration is held, and the application of the Collect of Soteris, Virgin of the East, to the Soteris of Dordrecht" — whom, he supposes, was so renamed on account of the salvation granted through miracles. Guillaume Gazeus, in his Ecclesiastical History of Belgium, where he treats of her at length, thinks she was called Soteris because she saved the very robbers by whom she had been slain.
[12] Philip Ferrari in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, in his Annotation on the eulogy of Saint Soteris of Rome, writes thus: "The body of this Virgin, according to Johannes Molanus, she was wrongly believed to be the same as the Roman Soteris, is held in the highest honor at Dordrecht in Holland, although she is commonly called Sura there." Molanus expressly distinguishes that Soteris from Sura, or Soteris, of Dordrecht. Ferrari repeats the same in his general Catalogue of Saints, where he nevertheless finally adds: "The Acts will remove the ambiguity as to whether she is the same as the Roman one."
[13] Nowhere have I found mention of the relics of Saint Sura among Belgian writers. her relics. Saussay writes that they were translated to Soissons. For he states thus under February 11: "At Soissons, the reception of the relics of Saint Sura, otherwise known as Soteris, Virgin and Martyr, crowned in Holland."
Section II. The churches, monasteries, chapels, and sacred places at Dordrecht when the Orthodox religion was flourishing.
[14] It is fitting here, in honor of the holy Martyr and for the glory of the most noble city, the churches of the city of Dordrecht, and other pious places; to review the churches and monasteries with which it was once adorned while the Catholic religion was flourishing, having obtained a letter which Theodorus Cornelius, a pastor of Utrecht stationed at Dordrecht, wrote in the Teutonic language some years ago to our Heribert Rosweyde.
[15] I. The greater church, sacred to Mary the Mother of God, in the western part of the city, situated near the very walls, was adorned with a college of priests a collegiate church of the Blessed Virgin, which Albert of Bavaria, Count of Holland, founded in the year 1366, and which was confirmed by John of Verneburg, Bishop of Utrecht. It consisted of a Dean, twelve Canons, four choir associates, and several Vicars. The tower, founded in 1339, burned in 1457 (not 1401, as Boxhornius has). Thus it was carved on a stone beneath the tower itself:
"I was founded in the year of Jesus 1339, June 16. Burned along with other buildings 1457, June 28."
And this is the church which Saint Sura is believed to have built, or at least some smaller one in that location. built by Saint Sura, or another in its place: On its northern side there was a most elegant chapel of the Virgin Mother of God, and in it a confraternity, as they called it, composed of the leading citizens and devoted to amplifying the honor of the same Virgin.
[16] In that same church there were smaller and larger altars and chapels numbering forty-seven in all — not merely forty-two, as Boxhornius writes. One of these altars was dedicated to the holy Cross. For a very large piece of the wood of the Cross of Christ was here, a piece of the holy Cross there, set in an elegant Cross adorned with precious gems. This wood was stolen by a certain stratagem from the Sultan of Babylon in the year 1430 by Nicolaus, a magistrate of Dordrecht, while he was repairing the Sultan's scepter in which it had been enclosed, and he brought it back to his homeland and donated it to this basilica. Sweder, Bishop of Utrecht, in the year 1431, in the presence of many witnesses, threw it into the fire, wishing to test whether it was truly wood of the Lord's Cross; proved by miracles: and it remained entirely whole and unharmed. Also in the year 1457, when a great part of the city and the basilica itself had been consumed by fire, that sacred wood was found completely uninjured by John Alberti, the Dean, and two Wardens. On the Sunday after the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, it was carried about in a splendid and devout procession, and that solemnity was called the Lesser Circuit. This sacred relic perished in the first tumults of the Gueux.
[17] II. The church called the New Church, dedicated in honor of Saint Nicholas, had fifteen altars, three choirs — the central one of Saint Nicholas, 2. the New Church of Saint Nicholas: the southern one of the Holy Cross, and the northern one of the Virgin Mother of God. The pastorate was conferred by the Chapter of the greater church. That building burned in 1568, on the feast of Saint Vincent, at midday itself. Rebuilt, though smaller, it was consecrated by Bishop Wilhelm Lindanus.
[18] III. A notable monastery of the Augustinian Hermits, founded about the year 1330 by William the Good, Count of Holland, 3. of the Augustinians: was destroyed by accidental fire in 1512, but afterward rebuilt.
IV. The monastery of the Friars Minor was built before the year 1311, 4. of the Friars Minor: as is evident from a certain census document. It had three altars, fenced off by screens. It was destroyed by the heretics in 1578, a road being laid through the garden and houses built round about.
[19] V. The old convent of nuns, sacred to Saint Agnes, was inhabited by Regular Canonesses of the Augustinian order, 5. of the old nuns, subject to the Chapter of Windesheim. Their confessor and priest was from the Red Valley or the Green Valley, both monasteries situated in the Forest of Soignes not far from Brussels. The church still stands, built in the year 1494. It formerly had three altars, with a choir enclosed below by a stone wall and above by screens. On the southern side of the choir, an external chapel was appended, in which a small stone statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary was kept, found in the foundations of the church while they were being dug. Through it many miracles were divinely wrought; indulgences were also granted to those who devoutly visited the chapel, from March 11 for eight consecutive days. where there was a miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin: This convent had ample revenues, donated especially by Gerard Hemskerck, Knight, who was living in the year 1417.
[20] VI. The convent called Marienborn — that is, the Font of Mary — was inhabited by nuns of the Third Rule of Saint Francis, 6. Marienborn: to whom a secular priest administered the sacraments. It is now a dwelling place for poor orphans, who are supported by the convent's revenues.
VII. A monastery of the Grey Sisters (as they call the women professing the Rule of Saint Francis, from their grey-white garb) stood on the New Way. 7. of the Grey Sisters: Here were three altars and one enclosed choir. A priest from the Order of Friars Minor instructed them. Next to this convent was a chapel dedicated to the Mother of God.
VIII. A community of eight Alexian Brothers, established in the year 1565, had one altar in their church 8. of the Alexians: and a ward for the insane attached to the house.
[21] IX. The Bread Sisters (Broot-Susters), of the Order of Saint Augustine, ministered to the sick and had begged for alms for some time — whence their name seems to have been given. Their order was approved by Bishop Florentius of Utrecht, by the authority of Pope Gregory XI, then residing at Avignon, 9. the Bread Sisters, in a published diploma. They first lived in an ordinary house, which was converted into a convent on June 8, 1466, by Bishop David.
X. The Utrecht Dominicans had a terminarius of their own at Dordrecht, living in a private house belonging to their monastery. 10. Residence of the Dominicans: He preached in the greater church on feasts of the Mother of God and around Easter on the sufferings of Christ. He performed services in the hospice of Saint James and heard confessions in the larger hospital. His companion, himself also a priest, served as chaplain at the church of Saint Adrian outside the Foul Gate, as they call it.
XI. The Beguinage, erected in the year 1303, had three altars in its church, 11. the Beguinage: the second dedicated to the Mother of God, the third to Saint Agatha. Everything has now been utterly destroyed.
[22] XII. Outside the Foul Gate there was a small church of Saint Adrian, with a single altar, 12. of Saint Adrian: and it served as the parish for those dwelling outside the city, who also had burial in its cemetery. Everything has now been razed to the ground.
XIII. Outside the same gate, 13. Chapel of the Dry Tree, at the end of the dike, next to the meadows belonging to the house of the Holy Spirit, there was a chapel called the Dry Tree, sacred to the Mother of God. Many here obtained a divine remedy for fevers, and they left bandages there as testimony of the health they had obtained; renowned for miracles: many of these were still hanging there in the year 1572. It too has been destroyed.
XIV. Outside the same gate, there stood a very large house of Lepers, and next to it a chapel with an altar. 14. of the Lepers: Both have been demolished.
[23] XV. A hospital, called that of the Venerable Sacrament, is still to be seen in the fish market; 15. a hospital, endowed chiefly by the generosity of the Ratingius and Hemskerck families, and the arms of both families — certainly very ancient — are still to be seen in the windows. The choir was enclosed by bronze screens, outside which were two other altars, one sacred to Saint Roch and the other to Saint Michael, and this latter also enclosed by a small choir. There was also another altar near the door in the hall, where the inmates were permitted to speak with outsiders. A daily Mass was celebrated at the high altar at six in the morning, and at six in the evening Lauds were sung in honor of the Most Holy Sacrament. called that of the Holy Sacrament on account of miracles, This hospital was burned in the great fire of 1457, together with the greater part of the city. A certain confectioner, while trying to rescue the reliquary of the Sacrament from the flames, was suffocated by smoke. The reliquary itself was found completely blackened by smoke, but the hosts, together with the sacred cloth, were unharmed. In memory of this prodigy a solemn procession was instituted, called the Greater Circuit, held on the Sunday after the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, on which the anniversary of the city is also still celebrated. Many miracles afterward occurred there, whence the hospital received its name from the Most Holy Sacrament. where there was also a remarkable cemetery: Next to it was a cemetery for burying those who died in the hospital, called the Holy Place. The bodies of the poor would decompose within three days without stench. Those who had been wealthier, and therefore were not to be received in the public hospital — from their bodies there often emanated so great a stench that they had to be conveyed elsewhere.
[24] XVI. The hospice of Saint James, founded for receiving poor pilgrims, 16. Hospice of Saint James: was administered by the Deans of the confraternity of Saint James — that is, those who had at some time made a pilgrimage to Compostela to venerate the sacred relics of the holy Apostle. A Carmelite terminarius, as they called him, sent from the monastery of Schoonhoven, frequently lodged there. It is now converted into a secular house, and its revenues have been assigned to the orphanage.
XVII. On the Frisian Way there was a home for the blind, 17. House for the Blind: in which destitute blind and lame persons were maintained. In its chapel there were three altars, fenced by screens. There exist letters patent of the Senate of Dordrecht, dated in the year 1494, in which mention is made of the divine offices customarily performed in this chapel.
XVIII. The hospice of Saint John, near the Wine Bridge (de Wynbrug), had one altar in its chapel, 18. Hospice of Saint John: enclosed by screens. Behind it was a large building in which lodging was provided to poor pilgrims. This hospice was governed by the Guild of Cobblers, or confraternity, whose members were called the Lords of Saint John. It has been converted into a secular building, which belongs to the same Guild.
XIX. The hospital of the Sluice, or Spuy, had one altar, enclosed in a choir, consecrated together with the chapel 19. Hospital of the Spuy: by Nicolaus de Noua-terra, Suffragan of Utrecht, on the second of November, 1543. It was governed by the Deans of the Guild of Sack-bearers.
[25] 20. Chapel of the Wine-sellers, XX. The wine-sellers' chapel, on Wine Street, administered by the wine-sellers themselves, had a chapel and within the enclosed choir an altar, at which a priest from the Friars Minor monastery daily performed the sacred rites. There is now an iron weighing-house in its place.
XXI. What is now the Seamen's House was their chapel, with an altar protected by lattice-work. 21. of the Seamen,
XXII. At the Reed Dike (den Rietdyck), 22. another of the same, there was a chapel, administered by the Deans of the lesser Guild of seamen. In it was an altar, enclosed in a choir. An ordinary house now stands there.
XXIII. The butchers' chapel, called that of the Holy Cross, 23. of the Butchers, likewise had an altar enclosed within a choir. Here also a few destitute pilgrims were given lodging for a night or two.
XXIV. Opposite the New Bridge, there was the chapel of the Stonemasons, 24. of the Stonemasons, and in it an altar.
XXV. At the Curved Elbow there stood a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God, with an altar. 25. at the Curved Elbow,
XXVI. On the Frisian Way there was a chapel named after the Plague (de plagh-capel). Its altar was dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God. 26. called that of the Plague, In this chapel children were treated for the disease they call Saint Machutus's disease. The neighbors managed its care. It has been sold and converted into an ordinary dwelling.
XXVII. At the end of the Frisian Way there was a dwelling called that of the Holy Spirit, in which destitute children were maintained 27. of the Holy Spirit. — they are now in the convent of Marienborn; but the Lepers are here now.
These were once the ornaments of a famous city and its bulwarks for meriting the aid of the heavenly Saints. All of these the Calvinist fury has destroyed. And let these things be said, on the occasion of the church built by Saint Sura at Dordrecht, for the perpetual memory of ancient piety.