Benedict

ON SAINT BENEDICT, ABBOT OF ANIANE AND INDE, IN NARBONESE GAUL AND BELGICA

Year of Christ 821.

Preliminary Commentary.

Benedict, Abbot of Inde in Belgium (Saint)

Author: G. H.

Section I. The monasteries of Aniane and Inde built by Saint Benedict.

[1] Maguelone, or Magdalone, is an island and city of Gaul on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in the first province of Narbonne, once renowned for its episcopal See and the title of a county. Mention of it is made in the ancient Notitia of the cities of Gaul. In the diocese and county of Maguelone. The episcopal See was transferred to Montpellier, which is five miles distant, under Francis I, King of France, by the authority of Pope Paul III, in the year of Christ 1536. In this County of Maguelone, broadly extended with its diocese beyond the island, along the road from Montpellier to Béziers and Narbonne, the more notable river Hérault flows through it, Near the river Hérault, commonly called the Erraud, which rises among the Gabalians and, having irrigated the territories of Alais, Lodève, Pézenas, and Agde, empties into the Mediterranean Sea, having received various rivers and streams beforehand. At the stream of Aniane, Among these, at number 10 below in the Life, Aniane, or the Anianus, is counted. On this stream, on his own and his father's property (he held, so long as he lived, the County of Maguelone), Saint Benedict builds the monastery of Aniane, Saint Benedict first built a cell, then a monastery, not far from which the stream Aniane flows into the left bank of the Hérault; and it long ago communicated its name to the monastery, which remains famous to this day, called Aniane or Anianum.

[2] Claude Robert in Christian Gaul, on the Bishops of Maguelone and in the list of abbeys, calls it the monastery of Saint Anian, as though it were named not from the stream, as we said, but from a Saint Anian -- perhaps the Bishop of Orléans who is venerated on November 17, or some other. But there is no celebration or memory of a Saint Anian there, Or the monastery of Saint Saviour of Aniane, no altar in the three churches dedicated to him. The principal church was built in honor of Christ the Saviour; whence the monastery is also called Saint Saviour of Aniane. In the Life and Deeds of Louis the Pious by an anonymous but contemporary author, among the monasteries that were either repaired or built from the foundations in his territory while he was King of Aquitaine and not yet Emperor, Under Louis the Pious, King of Aquitaine, the monastery of Aniane is numbered, as also in the continuation of Aimoin, book 5, chapter 8. In the Constitution made by the same Louis, then Emperor, in the year 818, concerning the monasteries of the kingdom of the Franks, Aniane is listed in Septimania among those that owed neither gifts nor military service, but only prayers for the welfare of the Emperor and the stability of the Empire. And of Septimania: Septimania is the name given after the arrival of the Goths to what had before been roughly the first Narbonese province, and was afterwards called Gothia, Languedoc, or Occitania. From this monastery Saint Benedict is commonly styled Abbot of Aniane, He is Abbot of the same, because he presided for a long time over the monastery he himself had founded, although, summoned by the Emperor Louis the Pious to other monasteries, he finally died at Inde, having the day before written the letter to George, Abbot of the monastery of Aniane, which is cited below.

[3] Inde, moreover, is a most famous monastery in a valley six miles distant from the palace of Aachen, As also afterwards of the monastery of Inde, as is stated below at number 34, constructed and so named from the stream of that same valley. This stream, flowing through part of the territory of Jülich, empties into the river Rur above Jülich, the capital of the region. Not by Charlemagne, John Noppius in book 1 of the Chronicle of Aachen, chapter 40, relates that this monastery was begun by the order of Charlemagne But built and endowed by Louis the Pious: and completed after his death under his son Louis the Pious -- which is attributed to Louis alone below in the Life, both by Saint Ardo at number 34 and by the monks of Inde at number 46, and is said to have been most copiously endowed by the same Emperor from his own revenues.

[4] Among other goods, Louis the Pious testifies in the diploma by which he confirms the Archbishopric of Hamburg conferred upon Saint Ansgar, that he had bestowed upon the monks of Inde the monastery of Renaix, which Charlemagne had assigned to the Church of Hamburg. "He also delegated," he says of his parent Charlemagne, "to the Presbyter Heridag a certain cell called Rodnace, so that it might serve as a supplement for that place, which was surrounded on all sides by dangers. But because the swift departure of my pious father from this life prevented the consecration of the aforesaid man as Bishop from taking place in his days, and I, whom the divine mercy had raised to the seat of his kingdom, while I was occupied in many affairs of governing the kingdom, also gave too little careful attention to this concern of my aforesaid father, carried out at the borders of the kingdom, The monastery of Renaix having been assigned, on the advice of certain persons I transferred the aforesaid cell to the monastery of Inde," etc. We gave the complete diploma on February 3 in the Life of Saint Ansgar, section 16. Peter van Beeck in his description of Aachen, chapter 11, also mentions the same donation, which Antonius Sanderus in Flandria Illustrata, volume 2, page 536, wrongly attributes to the Emperor Louis II, son of Lothar and grandson of the other Louis. Renaix, or Rotornacum, In the ancient Brabant, founded by Saint Amandus, commonly called Ronse, is a town in present-day Flanders in the ancient Brabant near the river Scheldt, between Oudenaarde and Tournai, where Saint Amandus, Bishop of Maastricht, had formerly built a monastery, as we said in his Life on February 6, section 6. Since, as Sigebert records in his Chronicle, in the year 851 the relics of Saint Hermes the Martyr were sent into Gaul by the Emperor Lothar and honorably deposited at the monastery of Inde, those same relics, as James Meyer writes in book 1 of his Annals of Flanders, in the year 860, "Louis, son of the Emperor Lothar, transferred from the monastery of Inde to Renaix on the day before the Nones of July." The same Emperor Louis II, as Aubert le Mire observes in the Belgian Fasti on August 28, deposited at Renaix the relics of Saints Cornelius the Pope, Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, and Saint Celestine, with an ample endowment added -- so much so that he is regarded by the people of Renaix as a second founder of the church of Renaix after Saint Amandus. We would wish these things to be more confirmed from ancient documents. And endowed by the Emperor Louis II:

[5] The lordship of the goods of Renaix remained in the hands of the successors of Saint Benedict, the Abbots of Inde, until the year 1280, when, as Meyer reports, in the month of December, Guy of Dampierre, Count of Flanders, [Whose goods were sold by Abbot Reynard of Inde to Guy, Count of Flanders, in 1280,] bought from Reynard, Abbot of the monastery of Saint Cornelius of Inde, of the Benedictine Order, in the diocese of Cologne, Renaix, Horebeke-Saint-Cornelius, Brakel, Atrignies, Wondelbeke, and Elzele in the land of Aalst, in the diocese of Cambrai. Sanderus in Flandria Illustrata writes the same, but with the names of the villages somewhat varied: he calls them Brakele, Acrinia, Woudeke, and Elzele. Le Mire, in Belgian Donations, chapter 120 of book 1, having reported the privilege granted by John I, Duke of Brabant and Limburg, to the monks of Inde and Renaix, enumerates the places purchased by Count Guy from the public documents published in French, which he attests he has seen, as follows: "Renaix, a municipality of Flanders, together with the adjacent villages and hamlets: Lesele, Wendeke, Akerne, Horebeke-Saint-Cornelius, Russeignies, Amougies, Middelbeke, Kaim, Escornai, and Tichove -- Guy, Count of Flanders and Namur, bought these from Reynard, Abbot of the monastery of Saint Cornelius of Inde near Aachen, in the year 1280, and gave them to his third-born son Guiot in the year 1289." Some assigned to Canons. Meanwhile, the chapter of Canons of Renaix, into which the monastery of monks was converted, still possesses by full right the goods assigned to it; why should it not also venerate with pious devotion Saint Benedict, once the lord of its domain, and indeed be enrolled in the hagiological records of Flanders by others as well?

[6] But let us return to the monastery of Inde, which is now commonly called after Saint Cornelius, Pope and Martyr, whose sacred head and right arm are preserved there Why is Inde called the monastery of Saint Cornelius? and are renowned for miracles, as will be said on September 14. Of other relics of the same place, the aforementioned Noppius treats. We have received a twofold catalogue of the Abbots of this monastery, but neither is sufficiently accurate. Among the Abbots, the Blessed Egilhard stands out, who was killed by the Normans near the town of Berchem on the eighth day before the Kalends of July, after whose name they say a chapel in the forest near Bullendorf is called Sankt-Eulard. On that day, and on September 14, there will again be occasion to treat of the monastery of Inde and its Abbots. The author of the manuscript catalogue of the Abbots notes that, on account of the holiness of the Blessed Benedict and his benefactions to the entire Order, Should it be considered the head of the Order through Germany and Gaul? it could justly be considered the head of the Order throughout Gaul and Germany, just as Monte Cassino is throughout the whole world, since from it the norm of Benedictine and monastic life was propagated into Gaul, Germany, and the rest of the world. The exact observance of the Rules at that place is treated below in the Life, number 37.

Section II. Various deeds of Saint Benedict arranged in the order of his life.

[7] Saint Benedict died, as is stated below at number 50, at the age of seventy, and therefore was born around the year of Christ 750 or the following year, [Saint Benedict is born around the year 750; having left the military in 774, he becomes a monk at Saint-Seine:] under Pippin, King of the Franks, as is said below at number 46. As a young man at the court of Pippin, he was enrolled in the military; and he continued his service thereafter, upon the death of Pippin in 768, under his son Charlemagne, until the year 774, in which Italy was subjected to the rule of King Charles. His brother having drowned in the waters of the river Ticino, and having made a vow thenceforth not to serve in the world, he entered the monastery of Saint-Seine in the diocese of Langres, and persevered in the monastic life until his death, though in various places.

[8] Having spent a period of five years and eight months among the Langrians, he withdrew around the year 780 to the stream of Aniane, In 780 he comes to the river Aniane: he builds a humble monastery: and at first a cell, then after some years, having gathered monks, he constructed the monastery of Aniane, with buildings covered in thatch and cheap material, and a church dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God -- events that are related below in chapter 3, to which are added in chapter 4 the alms distributed to the poor during a most severe famine. That famine is described in Henry Canisius, volume 3 of the Ancient Readings, in the Fragment of the Annals of Frankish Affairs from a Bavarian manuscript, where at the year 793, at which the fragment ends, the following is read: "King Charles held a court at Regensburg during the winter ... In the famine of 793, he assists the destitute: And there was a most severe famine upon the people; and in Burgundy and Francia too it was very great." Nearly the same is found in the old Chronicle of the monastery of Moissac in the diocese of Cahors, and it is added that in Gothia and in Provence the famine was so great that people died of it -- in which the supreme charity of Saint Benedict toward the needy shone forth.

[9] The heresy of Felix, Bishop of Urgel, who asserted that Christ was the adoptive son of God, which is joined to this famine at number 15, and was refuted by Saint Benedict, He fights the Felician heresy, confirms the same dates. For it was first condemned in the Council of Regensburg in 792, then in the Council of Frankfurt in 794, and was attacked by Alcuin in seven books. Alcuin extols the labors undertaken by Saint Benedict in the preface to two books written against the epistle of Bishop Elipandus of Toledo, whose heading reads: "To the Lords venerable and most beloved in the love of Christ, Leidrad, Bishop of Lyon, and Nefridius, Bishop of Narbonne, and Benedict the Abbot, and at the same time to the most holy and to us very honorable Bishops, Abbots, and Brethren of the provinces of Gothia, the most humble son of holy Church, Albinus, sends greetings." In the epistle itself he writes thus concerning Spain: "But now it undertakes, far worse, to weary the most sacred ears of the Christian Empire with certain novelties of schismatic perversity, as your inviolable faith and most celebrated holiness knows full well -- you who through the help of divine piety have long since striven to dispel this murky sect of impiety by the clear light of virtue, Having gone to Spain for this purpose: and, with Christ God granting it, we have heard that you are going again, at the command of the glorious Prince and most devout in all goodness, King Charles, to resume the work of preaching that has been begun. Wherefore I have undertaken the labor of a few days as a comfort for your most holy journey, so that you might have at hand the pious and most necessary Responses to a certain epistle addressed to my name by Elipandus, Bishop of Toledo, lest perhaps the minds of some be stained by reading that epistle -- since we have heard that those same letters have come into the hands of others before they were delivered to us, to whom they were sent." From these words of Alcuin it may be conjectured that Saint Benedict went to Spain more than once to crush that heresy.

[10] That there was a great intimacy between Saint Benedict and Alcuin is indicated by the contemporary author in Alcuin's Life, published before his works by Chesne: He visits the Blessed Alcuin, "The man of the Lord, Benedict," he says, "was joined to him by an intimacy beyond all other monks, and frequently hastened to him from the regions of Gothia for the sake of receiving counsel for his own salvation and that of his followers. On one occasion, however, he wished to come in such a way that no one at Tours would know it until he stood at the door of Albinus's house. But while he was not yet near, Albinus called one of his men and said: 'Hurry to meet Abbot Benedict in such a place, and tell him to come to me quickly.' The servant of Father Albinus did as he had been commanded, Having been warned of his arrival by revelation, and after three days reached the place he had told him, and found Benedict, and announced to him what he had been ordered. And Benedict, amazed that his plan had been detected, came with speed to Tours to him. And when they were joyfully kissing one another, the reverend Father Benedict began humbly: 'Lord Father, who told you of my arrival?' He replied: 'No man made it known to me by words.' To this Benedict said: 'Who then, Lord? Perhaps you heard by letter from someone?' And Alcuin said: 'Truly, by none.' To him the same man said again: 'If you foreknew neither by any man speaking nor by anyone's letter, I beg you, my Father, tell me by what means you knew it.' To which Albinus replied: 'Ask me no more about this.'"

[11] "When the venerable man Benedict now wished to return, he asked him to disclose what special prayer he used to pray for himself. And Alcuin said: 'This is what I ask of Christ: He inquires into his manner of praying: Lord, grant me to understand my sins, and to make a true confession, and to do worthy penance, and give me the remission of my sins.' To which the God-worthy man Benedict said: 'Let us add, my Father, one word to this prayer: and after remission, save me.' And Albinus said with joy: 'So be it, most reverend son, so be it.' But the same man further entreated him to tell him what words he silently uttered with his lips when, seeing the Cross, he bowed before it. And Alcuin said this: 'We adore your Cross, Lord; we commemorate your glorious passion: have mercy on us, you who suffered for us.' After this, Albinus escorted him a little way and sent him back rejoicing to his own home and people." So much for their pious conversation. When Alcuin died in 804, on Pentecost itself, Saint Benedict survived him by more than sixteen years. While Benedict was still living, the Life of Alcuin seems to have been written, which we shall illustrate on May 19.

[12] Meanwhile Saint Benedict, renowned for miracles (which are related in the same chapter 4), was becoming more widely known everywhere. Therefore, by the command of Charlemagne, he built the monastery anew, with houses covered no longer by thatch but by tiles, a cloister supported by marble columns, and a very large church erected in honor of our Saviour -- events related in chapter 5. He builds the new monastery of Aniane: In that passage, however, the numbers of the years of Christ and of Charlemagne are found quite corrupted, and events that we believe took place at the end of the eighth century or the beginning of the next are referred to the year of Christ 772, the fourteenth of King Charles -- numbers that do not even cohere with each other, since that year was only the fourth of Charles's reign.

[13] In the following years, along with this monastery of Aniane, Saint Benedict governed various other monasteries in Aquitaine and the province of Narbonne, He governs various monasteries: which are treated below in chapters 6 and 7. Meanwhile Louis the Pious, King of Aquitaine, with whom he stood in special favor, having been taken as a partner in the Empire by his parent Charlemagne in the year 813, succeeded him upon his death on January 28 of the year 814. Benedict was soon afterwards summoned by him to Francia, He founds Inde: and was first placed over the monastery of Maurus in Alsace, while the monastery of Inde was being built near Aachen.

[14] "Then," says the author of the Life of Louis the Pious, "the same God-beloved Emperor appointed Abbot Benedict, and with him monks of vigorous life, who, going and returning through all the monasteries of monks, should deliver to all monasteries, both for men and for women religious, a uniform and unchangeable manner of living according to the Rule of Saint Benedict." He devotes himself to the reform of monasteries: For this reason, under the same Benedict as president, an assembly of the Abbots of Francia with their monks was held for the reform of monasteries in the year of Christ 817, on the sixth day before the Ides of July, in the hall of the palace at Aachen called the Lateran, In the Council of Abbots in 817, he enacts eighty chapters with others, as is reported in the Preface to the eighty Chapters there constituted, which have been published together with the Councils of the Church everywhere. Leo of Ostia, book 1 of the Chronicle of Monte Cassino, chapter 18, enumerates only sixty-two, following a different division, where he writes thus: "In the last year of this Abbot Theodemarus, the Emperor Louis, who was surnamed the Gentle or the Holy, the son of this Charles, in the fourth year of his Empire, holding councils at Aachen in the palace with many Abbots and devout monks of all Francia, established sixty-two most useful general chapters for the observance of our Order, all of which are observed among us almost in the same manner as the Rule of Saint Benedict." The contemporary poet on the Origin of the Frankish Nation, published by Thomas of Aquinas the Discalced Carmelite, treating of the Emperor Louis, With Louis the Pious as supporter: alludes to these statutes in verses 116 and following:

"He decrees that the precepts of Father Benedict are to be held by force of law, And renews the legal provisions of the ancient norm, Of which he was a champion with devout mind and faith."

[15] Saint Benedict also wrote the Concordance of Rules, recently published by Hugh Menard with learned notes and observations, He writes the Concordance of Rules, prefaced by a very useful dissertation on the twenty-six Rules of this Concordance and their authors. It appears that at that time various of these Rules were observed in different monasteries; but when these were abolished, the single Rule of Saint Benedict of Cassino was then prescribed for all monks throughout the entire Frankish Empire. In order that the minds of all might be rendered more favorably disposed to embrace it, Saint Benedict of Inde wrote this Concordance, in whose preface he asserts that the other Rules are recognized to agree with the Rule of Saint Benedict, since even in certain passages the words are the same, and in others the meaning is the same, and that Blessed Benedict derived his Rule from the others who had lived before him, such as Saints Pachomius, Basil, Cassian, and others. For there are cited in the same Concordance the Rules of certain Fathers who are later in date than Saint Benedict, among whom are Saints Isidore, Columban, both Fructuosi, and several others, of whom Menard treats in that same place. Whence the author of the catalogue of the Abbots of Inde infers: Just as Saint Benedict of Cassino is the Proto-Patriarch of the entire Order and of monastic religion throughout the whole world, regarded as a kind of Master General throughout Francia: so this Benedict of Inde is the peer and Master General of the same Order throughout Francia and Germany.

[16] Not all monasteries everywhere, however, were given quiet by this arrangement. It is established from a diploma of Louis, issued in the nineteenth year of his Empire, the year of Christ 832, in which the monastic order is said to have been disturbed in the monastery of Saint-Denis near Paris, with a secession of many monks. Their removal, says the Emperor, had occurred because, as soon as Divine favor willed that we, having received the paternal seat, should lean upon the imperial scepters, the solicitude of our pious intention took care to ensure that the religion, propriety, and all the honor begun and established by our Lord and parent of divine memory, Charles, should remain and flourish clearly and truly, with all pretense removed, in their proper orders. Whence, for the purpose of correcting the norm of monastic institution, he is deceived by the monks of Saint-Denis. we appointed two religious men of venerable life, the Abbots Benedict and Arnulf, who should assiduously and zealously attend to this business throughout our Empire, which is to be governed and preserved by God. But these same good and devout, yet most simple Fathers, led astray by the cunning and obstinacy of the aforesaid Brethren, and by their own simplicity, failing not from design but from insufficiently subtle and necessary investigation or foresight, removed from the monastery those who had persevered in the solidity of their professed salvation, and placed them in the aforementioned cell, and left in the domiciles of the venerable habit and monastic life those who had sought the pleasures of their own will not by virtue but by craftiness, and who, having shaken the yoke of the Rule from their necks, and loosed by the thong of a more relaxed life, had attempted to seek the heavenly fatherland by a broader road. But when discipline was reformed and tightened in those monasteries by the authority of the Bishops, he adds: These Brethren henceforth, with divine regard touching their hearts in the course of time, having become zealous executors of their resolution and devout penitents for their past negligences, then professed the Rule of Saint Benedict. by wholesome and prudent consent wrote three documents... in which they professed their willingness to observe the Rule described by the blessed Father Benedict under the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Concerning other books written by Saint Benedict of Inde, the matter is treated below in the Life.

Section III. The year of the death of Saint Benedict. Sacred commemoration. The written Life.

[17] The year of the death of Saint Benedict is assigned in both manuscript catalogues of the Abbots of Inde as the eight hundred and thirty-second, He did not die in the year 832 an error of eleven years, and perhaps derived from the diploma of Louis the Pious, by which we have said the monastic order in the monastery of Saint-Denis was confirmed in that year, established through the Bishops by the authority of the Emperor, in which diploma mention is made of the same Saint Benedict, but as already long since dead. Below at number 50, the monks of Inde accurately indicate the year to have been the eight hundred and twenty-first, but 821, the fourteenth Indiction, the Concurrent 1, the Epact the fourteenth -- all of which correspond to that year -- the Lunar Cycle 5, the Solar Cycle 18, the Dominical Letter F. The monks of Inde add at number 48 that he began to be ill on a Thursday, which day Saint Benedict himself indicates in his letter to George, Abbot of Aniane, to have been the seventh day before the Ides of February; and these agree with the same year. And so on Friday, February 8, he was carried to his own monastery and visited by almost all the courtiers. On the following day, which was a Saturday, he gave admonitions to the Brethren and wrote to the Emperor and others. But the letter addressed to George, Abbot of Aniane, he dictated on the fourth day before the Ides of February, which was a Sunday; and finally on the third day before the Ides of February, Monday, he died. February 11. All of which we observe accurately against those who maintain that the year then began at Easter, which we have also rejected elsewhere.

[18] Saussay in the Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology under February 11 reports this concerning him: In the monastery of Inde near Aachen, the passing of Saint Benedict the Abbot, founder of the monastery of the Holy Saviour of Aniane in Septimania, in the diocese of Maguelone or Montpellier, he is venerated on the same February 11 where on the following day his memory is celebrated, as is expressed in the present Martyrology. To which it need only be added that this holy Abbot was also the author of the Concordance of Rules which he wrote, and that, already approaching old age, dear to Charlemagne and successively to Louis the Pious, he was summoned toward Aachen, governed the monastery of Inde, where, wearied by holy labors and filled with heaps of justice, he breathed forth a soul worthy of God. His blessed passing was divinely revealed to Stoebel, Bishop of Maguelone, who also made known to many the great distinctions of his pious life that he himself had observed. So far Saussay, who celebrates him with a longer eulogy on February 12, and especially February 12 on which day he says his memory is observed at Aniane, and there clings to that place in such a way, with no mention made of Inde, as if he had died at Aniane: In Septimania, he says, in the monastery of Aniane, of Saint Benedict the Abbot and Confessor, etc. Nearly the same words are found in Menard in the Benedictine Martyrology: On the day before the Ides of February, in Septimania, Saint Benedict, Abbot of Aniane. On the same day Gelenius enrolled him in the Cologne Calendar with these words: In the monastery at Inde of Saint Cornelius, in the diocese of Cologne, the commemoration of Blessed Benedict the Abbot, who in the times and by the authority of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious presided over Inde for seven years, and, filled with heaps of justice, breathed forth a soul worthy of God, whose blessed passing was revealed to Stoebel, Bishop of Maguelone in Gaul. Others refer his death to the preceding day. But his deposition was perhaps made on this February 12: whence his commemoration also remained more solemn on that date. In the title formerly prefixed to the manuscript Life he is also called Blessed. But William Catel in book 5 of Languedoc under Nibridius, Archbishop of Narbonne, and Benedict Haeften in book 7 of the Monastic Disquisitions, treatise 5, disquisition 1, and in the Appendix, where he attributes the Order of Monastic Conversation hitherto published under the name of Saint Benedict of Cassino to the same Saint Benedict of Inde, also call him Saint, in section 3.

[19] The Life of Saint Benedict was written by his disciple Saint Ardo, a priest and monk of the monastery of Aniane, who lived twenty-two years after the death of his former Abbot and Master, Saint Benedict. The Life was written by Saint Ardo, For, as Menard reports from the Breviary of the monastery of Aniane in book 1 of the Observations on his Martyrology, he died at the age of sixty in the year of Christ 843, on the Nones of March, on which day we shall treat of him at greater length. This Ardo was surnamed Smaragdus, if the title of the manuscript Life of Saint Benedict in the Notes in Menard is to be trusted, where it reads thus: Here follows the Life of our Blessed Father Benedict the Abbot, founder of the monastery of the Holy Saviour of Aniane, by some surnamed Smaragdus, written by the blessed Father Ardo Smaragdus, a monk and priest of the same monastery. Menard adds that the commentaries on the Rule of Saint Benedict, which are commonly attributed to Smaragdus, Abbot of Saint Michael, seem attributable to this man. Haeften discusses both in book 2 of the Monastic Disquisitions, treatise 5, disquisition 4. For the rest, Ardo alone is the name used by the monks of Inde below at number 50, just as he himself names himself in the title of the preface, with no mention made of Smaragdus.

[20] Saint Ardo, asked by the monks of Inde in the appended letter to compose a booklet on the Life of Father Benedict, was silent for an entire year, as he says in the preface; but compelled by repeated entreaties, he wrote in the second or third year after the death of Saint Benedict two or three years after the death, what he had either seen in his own times or heard from those who knew the beginnings of his conversion, as he testifies at numbers 2 and 3. And he indicates that he lived in the old and humbler monastery at number 21: Nor should that be passed over in silence, he says, which I myself witnessed before the new monastery with the church of the Holy Saviour was built. And at number 28, speaking of Saint William of Gellone, who entered upon the monastic life in the year 806, he says: an eyewitness: We have often seen him sitting upon his donkey, etc. Which the author of the Life of Saint William published by Charles Stengel, on account of the authority of Saint Ardo as an eyewitness, so presents: He was seen very frequently, out of his humility, sitting upon a humble and lowly donkey, etc. Furthermore at number 30 Saint Ardo says: From the very Brethren who saw these things and who report them, I have learned these things; they remain witnesses of them to this day. From the beginning of chapter 10 is appended the letter of the monks of Inde, he inserts the letter of the monks of Inde concerning his death. in which they describe his life briefly, his death at greater length, and who, as Ardo testifies at number 45, were present at that time. Those same monks themselves testify at number 48: We, who were watching over him while he was ill there, scarcely had the opportunity to approach him, and brought him to the monastery, etc.; and at number 49: in his tablets after his death we found.

[21] This Life exists in manuscript on ancient parchments of the monastery of Aniane, whence it was obtained by Anselm Rolle, a Benedictine of the Congregation of Saint Maur in Gaul Whence this Life is here published, and a most studious investigator of antiquities, and was received by Hugh Menard, who published it in book 2 of the Observations on the Benedictine Martyrology in his own style, and indeed in abridged form, and, as he hoped, without detriment to the history. He then published the same in its original phrasing and in full before the Concordance of Rules of the same Saint Benedict, and illustrated it with notes and observations, in which he indicates that he had two other manuscript copies of the Letter of the monks of Inde. Andrew Chesne in volume 3 of the Writers of French History reprinted the same Letter in full, along with fragments of the Life which he judged useful to his purpose, from this edition of Menard. We distinguish it into chapters according to our custom, and illustrate it with annotations, and subjoin two letters with two letters of Saint Benedict, written by Saint Benedict in his final illness: concerning the first of which, addressed to the Abbot and monks of the monastery of Aniane, there is discussion in the Life at number 45; the second is mentioned by Catel in book 5 under Nibridius, Archbishop of Narbonne, to whom it was written, and he adds that he has it in manuscript.

LIFE

by Saint Ardo, his disciple, published from the Aniane manuscript by Menard.

Benedict, Abbot of Inde in Belgium (Saint)

BHL Number: 1096

By Saint Ardo, his disciple.

PROLOGUE OF THE AUTHOR.

To the Lords deservedly venerable, the Fathers and Brethren serving the Lord Jesus in the monastery of Inde, Ardo, servant of the servants of Christ, sends greetings.

[1] Long ago, dearest Brethren, your letters were brought to me, filled with the love of the pious memory of our Father, the Abbot Benedict, and containing briefly, Asked to write the Life of Saint Benedict but lovingly, an account of his departure and migration to Christ: in which you deigned to admonish my insignificance that I should write more extensively for those desiring to hear of the beginning of his conversion. But until now, seeing that it exceeded the weight of my powers, I have delayed. For indeed those who write the Life of their predecessors -- a Life venerable in merits and celebrated in virtues -- must take care with sagacious diligence, lest either, sluggish through negligence, they omit what is useful, or, induced by partiality, add what is superfluous; but rather, with matters most diligently investigated and moreover confirmed by the testimony of manifest witnesses, they should write with a flowing pen: not offending the ears of the learned with the blemish of rusticity, but bringing forth words seasoned with the salt of urbanity, and, with polished discourses, so to speak, soothing the ears of detractors. But I myself, lacking awareness of my own incompetence, being at some point about to obey your commands, was long silent, and waited for the matter to be set forth by more learned men: deeming it unjust if I were to touch the Life of so great a Patron with unskilled words and take away from more skilled men the labor owed to them -- men who are able, abounding in a wealth of words, to expound pompously whatever they wish, and to steer their bark among the shoals without fear, and to avoid the stench of solecisms, why he delayed, and by the eloquence of their rhetorical gift can from their abundant facility of speech suppress the trifles of detractors. I was afraid that these men, while wishing to correct what was clumsily composed, exasperated by the badly woven text, might judge it worthy of neglect -- especially since I knew that you attend at the doors of the sacred hall of the palace, and do not thirst for the drink of a turbid stream, but rather diligently draw the streams of wisdom from the unfailing spring of the purest fountain. for an entire year. This reasoning held me back for the space of a year.

[2] Meanwhile the Brethren, whom he himself had begotten for Christ by his pious endeavor, began to rouse me from my idle study with the most biting words, and then resumed: and to compel me, as it were, to resurrect him for them through the deeds of his religious life -- from whom they are known to be absent only in the fellowship of the body, not in the fullness of charity. Thus at length I undertake to set forth the work. Courage and pardonable counsel were also given by the very place, which is known to have been originally built by him, and by the Brethren who knew the beginnings of his conversion. For what others could scarcely hear of, by these men it could scarcely not be seen. Therefore, with materials in part gathered according to our capacity, we prepare resources for those who will set forth the work more carefully, and we compress too narrowly, as it were, a sort of seedbed for those who will disseminate it more broadly. We ask with humble prayer that, if anyone should despise this work, he should leave it alone or correct it; but if he is willing for others to read it and to learn, let him permit it, and let him turn to read the Life of the preceding Fathers, and if he finds that this has not strayed from their path, as far as our abilities allow, let him rejoice; but if otherwise, let him not rashly condemn it by judging, but tearfully render the most just judge most merciful on the dreadful day.

[3] Since I have obeyed your commands, O most holy Brethren, I pray that you assist me by praying to the Lord, he offers it to the censure of others, so that through your prayers both pardon for my offenses may be granted to me, and it may profit posterity for their increase. And again I earnestly ask that you reread this with watchful study, and whatever you find to be clumsily composed, correct by emending; but whatever is useful, preserve in the secret of your breast to be cultivated. For indeed, by your command, with the force of silence removed, I have offered the will, not the accomplishment: you will impute our speaking to yourselves, you who recall that you commanded us not to be silent. And since the Abbot Helisachar clung to him with the affection of singular love as he departed from the world, as the letter directed to us, more precious than gold, testifies, after your examination I deem it should be presented to him particularly; if he should decree that it ought to be concealed, I ask pardon for my error; but if he judges it useful, let those who willingly obey eagerly strive to imitate the life of the absent one. That it is a very ancient custom, practiced by kings to this day, for events and occurrences to be committed to annals for the knowledge of posterity, no learned person, I think, doubts; and since the mind, divided among various matters, is blinded by forgetfulness, we believe it was divinely ordained that things which, with oblivion advancing over the long course of time, could be abolished, should be entrusted to writings for preservation; by the reading of which those who desire to read such things are gladdened, cheered, and wholly incline themselves to grace, nor is the author of the writing judged rash by them, he writes what he saw himself, or heard from eyewitnesses; even if it happens that it resounds with words insufficiently polished, for the eager knowledge of which they labor. Let them therefore grant us both to read the Life of our predecessors and to commit to posterity what we ourselves in our own times have seen or heard for the benefit of souls. Nor let us be condemned for our unskilled and rusticity-smelling words,

since we have deemed it right to set forth a saving norm, though in crude words, and to display the most beautiful honeycomb amid humble twigs. Let each take according to his own judgment whatever he finds pleasing to his mind.

CHAPTER I

Birth, military service, monastic life of Saint Benedict.

[4] The venerable man, Benedict by name and by merit, an Abbot, Saint Benedict was noble by birth, sprung from the race of the Getae, was born in the regions of Gothia, of noble birth, but heavenly piety ennobled him with the more powerful distinction of virtues. For his father held the county of Maguelone as long as he lived, and was most faithful to the Frankish nation with all his might, he is raised in the court of the King: brave and resourceful: for he was very hostile to the enemy. He overthrew with great slaughter the Vascones, who had entered the borders of the Frankish realm for the purpose of ravaging, of whom none escaped except those whom swift flight saved. He entrusted his aforesaid son, then of boyish years, to the queen at the court of the glorious King Pippin, to be raised among the scholars, he becomes a soldier: who, bearing a disposition of mind beyond his age, was beloved by his fellow soldiers: for he was swift and useful in all things. After this he obtained the office of cupbearer. He served in the military in the times of the aforesaid King; and after his death, when the most glorious King Charles assumed the reins of government, he attached himself to serve him.

[5] Meanwhile, illuminated by Divine grace, he began to burn with heavenly love, having left the world, and to strive with all his efforts to leave the world, and to despise the perishable honor which he could see that he might attain with labor, but would quickly lose once attained. For three years, however, keeping this in his heart, he kept the secret to God alone, inserting himself in worldly affairs with his body, not his mind. he contemplates serving God, He attempted therefore during this interval whether he could seize the summit of continence: to deprive his body of sleep, to restrain his tongue, to abstain from food, to take wine more sparingly, and like a skilled athlete to prepare himself for the coming battle. For while still in his secular habit, he was already pondering in advance he deliberates on the manner: what he later devoutly fulfilled; but although he wished to strip himself of worldly affairs, he nevertheless hesitated by what means this should be done: whether to assume the garb of a pilgrim, or perhaps to join himself to someone and tend the sheep or herds of others without payment, or even to practice the cobbler's trade in the city and distribute to the poor whatever he might have. Under such a struggle, with his mind wavering, he turned to the love of the regular life. In that very year, therefore, in which Italy was subjected to the dominion of the glorious King Charles, when his brother wished incautiously to cross a certain river, he makes a vow in the danger of drowning: he was seized by the swelling waves; and he, sitting on his horse, seeing the danger of his brother, threw himself headlong into the waves in order to rescue the perishing one from danger, and, his horse swimming, he seized his brother's hand; but when he held him, he himself was held, and he who wished to rescue the dying one barely escaped the danger of death. Then he bound himself by a vow to God that he would no longer serve in the world.

[6] He sought his homeland, but did not reveal this to his father. There was, however, a certain religious man named Widmar, lacking bodily sight but shining with the light of the heart, to whom he disclosed his intention; and this man kept the secret and gave wholesome counsel. Having therefore prepared all things, he set out on the road as if going to Aachen, but when he entered the house of Saint-Seine, he ordered his men to return home, he enters the monastery of Saint-Seine. and indicated that he wished to serve Christ God in that same monastery. He asked for permission to enter, and having obtained it, he forthwith laid down the hair of his head and took the habit of a true monk.

f. In the year 768.

CHAPTER II

The mortification of Saint Benedict. The office of cellarer.

[7] Having become a monk, he began to afflict his body with incredible fasting for a period of two years and six months: for he was hostile to his flesh as if to a savage beast, Saint Benedict mortifies himself by fasting: taking the most meager food, sustaining his body with bread and water only, warding off death rather than hunger, and avoiding wine as if it were deadly poison. If at any time his exhausted spirit wished to take sleep, he would lay himself down on a wretched pallet for a brief rest, he lies down roughly: sometimes prostrate on the bare ground, utterly exhausted, he rested, destined to weary himself more by the rest itself. Often, too, keeping vigil through the night in prayer, with bare feet on the pavement soaked with icy cold, he persisted: he spends the night in prayer: for he had so entirely given himself over to divine meditations that

he would continue many days in succession, devoted to the sacred Psalmody, not breaking the law of silence.

[8] While all were at rest, he would clean their shoes with water and wipe them, and return them washed to their proper places. Alas, what grief! Certain men, as if mocking a madman, he is despised: threw their leggings far away; whose senseless folly he bore calmly with a loftier purpose. In his clothing he cast himself down with such vileness that it could scarcely be persuaded to seem credible to those who did not know. He had a cheap and very old tunic, which he would not change except after many days had passed, he wears the vilest clothing: and therefore an abundance of lice arose on his filthy skin, by which his limbs, emaciated by fasting, were consumed. His cowls were worn out with extreme age, and if at any time the aging threads broke, he would patch the gaping hole with a piece of cloth of a different color. Which made him quite deformed: wherefore he was derided, pushed about, and spat upon by many. But his mind, fixed on heaven and seeking lowlier things, while on feast days the rest adorned themselves with finer garments, he without any regard used his in the sight of all. The use of baths during the same period he never permitted his body. But the cleaning of the monastery, as often as opportunity required, he performed. The grace of compunction, granted by divine aid, was so lavishly bestowed upon him that he could weep whenever he wished. Daily with tears, daily with groaning, out of fear of Hell he was sustained, he is worn down by tears and penances, lovingly singing that verse of David: I ate ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with weeping. His face was pale from fasting, and with his flesh wasted away, skin clung to bone, and hung wrinkled in the manner of the dewlap of an ox. Psalm 101:10. In this manner taming, or rather, so to speak, The Abbot restrains him: mortifying his tender body as though it were an untamed animal, when he was compelled by the Abbot to exercise less severity against himself, he would by no means give his assent. Declaring moreover that the Rule of Blessed Benedict was set down for beginners and the infirm, he strove to ascend to the teachings of Blessed Basil and to the Rule of Saint Pachomius, and although he barely performed what was possible, he constantly sought out the impossible. formerly averse to the Rule of Saint Benedict: Proving himself by these laments of penance, he who was inimitable -- by none or by few -- by the helping of divine grace, in order that he might become a model of salvation for many, was kindled with love for the Rule of the aforesaid Benedict, and like a new athlete from a single combat, he entered the public field to fight. Meanwhile he began to correct the behavior of others, to rebuke the negligent, to exhort beginners, to admonish the proficient to advance, and to reproach the wicked that they might be corrected.

[9] After this the care of the cellar was enjoined upon him, just as the Rule of the aforesaid Father had recommended: he becomes cellarer: and according to the precept of that Rule he strove with all his might to compose himself, and to give freely and without delay to those who asked for lawful things, to deny those who asked for what was wrong, and to excuse gently those who demanded the impossible. And since he did not provide them with drink according to their desired will, he was not regarded by many with favorable eyes. He cared for guests, children, and the poor with all sagacity. The Abbot also esteemed him with the highest affection, he is loved by the Abbot, because he was useful in all things, both careful of his own life and solicitous for the salvation of others, and diligent in his ministry, sparing in speech, most ready in obedience, and agreeable in admonition. For divine piety had conferred upon him, among many other virtues, the gift of understanding and the richness of spiritual eloquence.

CHAPTER III

The flight of Saint Benedict to his homeland. The solitary life. The monastery of Aniane constructed.

[10] When a period of five years and eight months had elapsed in salutary pursuits, the Abbot of the aforesaid monastery departed from the world: An Abbot is to be elected, then all with one mind and equal consent desired that Benedict be placed over them. But he, seeing that his ways did not accord with theirs, hastened to his native soil, and there, on his father's and his own property, along a stream whose name is Aniane, he flees: and also near the river Arauris, with the aforesaid man Widmar and a few others, beside the small church of Blessed Saturninus, he built a tiny cell for habitation. In that place he lived for several years in great want, day and night imploring divine mercy with groaning and tears, he lives as a solitary: that it might bring his will to the most effective result. There were, moreover, during the same period in that province certain strenuous men of the highest sanctity, namely Atilio and Nibridius, as well as Aniane, living devoutly but ignorant of regular observance: by whom, when his reputation was discovered, he was greatly loved. For whenever some adverse impulse attempted to overcome him even slightly, he would forthwith mount his little donkey and hasten to Atilio, who was nearest to him. At first, indeed, with ardent spirit, very many attempted to live religiously with him, having left the world; but, broken in spirit, when his companions fall away dreading the new manner of life, while they were compelled to adopt an unheard-of way of abstinence -- to receive bread by weight and wine by measure -- soon, like a sow to the mud and a dog to its vomit, they drew back their foot from the path of salvation. Seeing their unstable faith, the man of God, troubled, wished to return to his own monastery. For that reason he went to consult the aforesaid man; and when he had told him his desire, that man rebuked him, he perseveres: saying that it had been shown to him from heaven that he had been given as a lamp to men: therefore he must steadfastly fulfill the good he had begun; that this was the fraud of the ancient enemy, who, always envious, is hostile to good works, and to whom assent should never be given. And so, supported by his counsel, he fearlessly undertook what he desired to accomplish with ardent spirit; not building on another's foundation, but beginning to construct buildings with new work, and seeking to open an unknown path of salvation.

f. In the year 768.

CHAPTER II

The mortification of Saint Benedict. The office of cellarer.

[7] Having become a monk, he began to afflict his body with incredible fasting for a period of two years and six months: for he was hostile to his flesh as if to a savage beast, Saint Benedict mortifies himself by fasting: taking the most meager food, sustaining his body with bread and water only, warding off death rather than hunger, and avoiding wine as if it were deadly poison. If at any time his exhausted spirit wished to take sleep, he would lay himself down on a wretched pallet for a brief rest, he lies down roughly: sometimes prostrate on the bare ground, utterly exhausted, he rested, destined to weary himself more by the rest itself. Often, too, keeping vigil through the night in prayer, with bare feet on the pavement soaked with icy cold, he persisted: he spends the night in prayer: for he had so entirely given himself over to divine meditations that

he would continue many days in succession, devoted to the sacred Psalmody, not breaking the law of silence.

[8] While all were at rest, he would clean their shoes with water and wipe them, and return them washed to their proper places. Alas, what grief! Certain men, as if mocking a madman, he is despised: threw their leggings far away; whose senseless folly he bore calmly with a loftier purpose. In his clothing he cast himself down with such vileness that it could scarcely be made to seem credible to those who did not know. He had a cheap and very old tunic, which he would not change except after many days had passed, he wears the vilest clothing: and therefore an abundance of lice arose on his filthy skin, by which his limbs, emaciated by fasting, were consumed. His cowls were worn out with extreme age, and if at any time the aging threads broke, he would patch the gaping hole with a piece of cloth of a different color. Which made him quite deformed: wherefore he was derided, pushed about, and spat upon by many. But his mind, fixed on heaven and seeking lowlier things, while on feast days the rest adorned themselves with finer garments, he without any regard used his own in the sight of all. The use of baths during the same period he never permitted his body; but the cleaning of the monastery, as often as opportunity required, he performed. The grace of compunction, granted by divine aid, was so lavishly bestowed upon him that he could weep whenever he wished. Daily with tears, daily with groaning, out of fear of Hell he was sustained, he is worn down by tears and penances, lovingly singing that verse of David: I ate ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with weeping. His face was pale from fasting, and with his flesh wasted away, skin clung to bone and hung wrinkled in the manner of the dewlap of an ox. Psalm 101:10. In this manner taming, or rather, so to speak, The Abbot restrains him: mortifying his tender body as though it were an untamed animal, when he was compelled by the Abbot to exercise less severity against himself, he would by no means give his assent. Declaring moreover that the Rule of Blessed Benedict was set down for beginners and the infirm, he strove to ascend to the teachings of Blessed Basil and to the Rule of Saint Pachomius, and although he barely performed what was possible, he constantly sought out the impossible. formerly averse to the Rule of Saint Benedict: Proving himself by these laments of penance, he who was inimitable -- by none or by few -- by the helping of divine grace, in order that he might become a model of salvation for many, was kindled with love for the Rule of the aforesaid Benedict, and like a new athlete from a single combat, he entered the public field to fight. Meanwhile he began to correct the behavior of others, to rebuke the negligent, to exhort beginners, to admonish the proficient to advance, and to reproach the wicked that they might be corrected.

[9] After this the care of the cellar was enjoined upon him, just as the Rule of the aforesaid Father had recommended: he becomes cellarer: and according to the precept of that Rule he strove with all his might to compose himself, and to give freely and without delay to those who asked for lawful things, to deny those who asked for what was wrong, and to excuse gently those who demanded the impossible. And since he did not provide them with drink according to their desired will, he was not regarded by many with favorable eyes. He cared for guests, children, and the poor with all sagacity. The Abbot also esteemed him with the highest affection, he is loved by the Abbot, because he was useful in all things, both careful of his own life and solicitous for the salvation of others, and diligent in his ministry, sparing in speech, most ready in obedience, and agreeable in admonition. For divine piety had conferred upon him, among many other virtues, the gift of understanding and the richness of spiritual eloquence.

CHAPTER III

The flight of Saint Benedict to his homeland. The solitary life. The monastery of Aniane constructed.

[10] When a period of five years and eight months had elapsed in salutary pursuits, the Abbot of the aforesaid monastery departed from the world: An Abbot is to be elected, then all with one mind and equal consent desired that Benedict be placed over them. But he, seeing that his ways did not accord with theirs, hastened to his native soil, and there, on his father's and his own property, along a stream whose name is Aniane, he flees: and also near the river Arauris, with the aforesaid man Widmar and a few others, beside the small church of Blessed Saturninus, he built a tiny cell for habitation. In that place he lived for several years in great want, day and night imploring divine mercy with groaning and tears, he lives as a solitary: that it might bring his will to the most effective result. There were, moreover, during the same period in that province certain strenuous men of the highest sanctity, namely Atilio and Nibridius, as well as Aniane, living devoutly but ignorant of regular observance: by whom, when his reputation was discovered, he was greatly loved. For whenever some adverse impulse attempted to overcome him even slightly, he would forthwith mount his little donkey and hasten to Atilio, who was nearest to him. At first, indeed, with ardent spirit, very many attempted to live religiously with him, having left the world; but, broken in spirit, when his companions fall away dreading the new manner of life, while they were compelled to adopt an unheard-of way of abstinence -- to receive bread by weight and wine by measure -- soon, like a sow to the mud and a dog to its vomit, they drew back their foot from the path of salvation. Seeing their unstable faith, the man of God, troubled, wished to return to his own monastery. For that reason he went to consult the aforesaid man; and when he had told him his desire, that man rebuked him, he perseveres: saying that it had been shown to him from heaven that he had been given as a lamp to men: therefore he must steadfastly fulfill the good he had begun; that this was the fraud of the ancient enemy, who, always envious, is hostile to good works, and to whom assent should never be given. And so, supported by his counsel, he fearlessly undertook what he desired to accomplish with ardent spirit; not building on another's foundation, but beginning to construct buildings with new work, and seeking to open an unknown path of salvation.

[11] The venerable man Benedict, therefore, with the few Brethren who had gathered to him, having learned of his reputation and flocked to him, he gathers monks (as the aforesaid place now began to flourish in pious religion,) desiring to open the heavenly path without charge, hastened to labor with his hands: and lest, while preaching to others, he himself be found reprobate, he took care to fulfill through his own example what he instructed should be done. For he was not deterred by want and did not abandon the work he had begun, but, as the Apostle says, placed in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, he exhorted those under him to persist with steadfast heart, teaching that the way which leads to life is narrow and strait, and that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory 2 Corinthians 11:27 which shall be revealed to the Saints. Strengthened by this teaching, they desired to be worn down by even greater labors. he lives in the utmost poverty: They had at that time no property, no vineyards, no cattle, no horses: there was only one little donkey, by whose comfort, when they had to go somewhere, the weakness of the Brethren was in turn relieved. They took wine only on Sundays and solemn days. Their hunger was sometimes alleviated by milk brought by certain women: for their bodies had wasted away from dryness, living on bread and water alone. Wherefore, to drive away the relentless cold, they made use of quilts when they stood at the divine vigils. For they were poor in possessions but rich in merits, and the more their bodies were worn down by poverty, the more their

souls were nourished with virtues: for they burned with heavenly love, and tears alone brought them consolation in their distress.

[12] The ancient enemy, seeing their unconquered fraternal unity, contrived to sunder it by this stratagem. They had one mill nearby, he patiently bears thefts: in which they ground whatever provisions they could have. But a guest, instigated by the thoughts of the evil one, came to them one night, whom they refreshed as best they could and placed on the donkey's bedding. But that ill-watchful man rose while they slept, and carrying off the blanket on which he had lain, and the bucket from which he had drawn water, and not forgetting the ironwork of the mill either, he departed, repaying evil for good. On the next day the disciples reported the discovered loss to their master, whom he taught to bear the injuries inflicted with goodwill, and to count the losses as gains, affirming that the one rather to be pitied was he who, in striving to acquire profit, had lost faith.

[13] Meanwhile the crowd of disciples began gradually to grow, and the fame of the pious religious life began to flit by degrees through the mouths of the neighboring inhabitants, he builds the monastery of Aniane: and, extending itself, to travel to places far distant. And since the valley in which he had first settled was very narrow, he began to construct a monastery with new work a little beyond its confines. While the Brethren labored, he himself would sometimes even cook their food for eating, and even while occupied around the kitchen he also strove to write a book at the same time. Because of a lack of oxen, he often carried the timber on his own shoulders with his disciples: for there was a building in that place where they were striving to found the monastery, which when enlarged they consecrated in honor of the holy Mother of God, Mary. As people came together from all sides and competed to subject themselves to his teaching, both the construction of the monastery was quickly completed and the place, enriched in resources, was increased, each person giving what they could. For he had decreed not to cover or build

the houses with ornate walls, he rejects costly furnishings, and red tiles, or painted ceilings, but with thatch and cheap material. For although the number of Brethren multiplied greatly, he always sought the cheaper and the humbler things. Wherefore if anyone wished to bestow something from his possessions upon the monastery, he accepted it; but if someone tried to attach slaves, male or female, he refused: nor did he allow anyone during that time to be handed over to the monastery by charter; rather he commanded that they be made free. As for vessels for consecrating the Body of Christ, he did not wish to have them of silver: for at first they were of wood, then of glass, and thus finally he ascended to tin. He refused to have a silken chasuble, and if anyone gave him one, he would at once lend it to others for their use.

CHAPTER IV

The poverty of others relieved by Saint Benedict. Miracles performed.

[14] Furthermore, in the same region or roundabout, a number of religious men arose, building monasteries and gathering monks, and exercising themselves after the example of the blessed man, instructed by his teaching: He assists neighboring monasteries, to whom he brought help and assistance as he was able, not only in spiritual matters but also in temporal ones. Visiting them often, he exhorted them not to abandon the work they had begun, nor, struck down by want or cast down by terrors, to look back from afar. And thus, supported by his wholesome teaching, numerous monasteries stood and a very great multitude of monks existed. But when a most severe famine arose during the same period, a multitude of poor, widows, and orphans began to flock to him and to crowd the gates of the monastery and the roads. Seeing them wasted by hunger, and to the poor in a public famine: indeed already almost swallowed up by death itself, he was distressed, because he did not know whence he might feed so great a multitude. But since nothing is lacking to those who fear God, he ordered that what would suffice for the Brethren until they reached the new harvest should be set aside separately; the rest he commanded to be distributed each day through appointed Brethren. The flesh of cattle and sheep was also given each day, and the milk of rams provided assistance. For they had made themselves huts in suitable places, in which they dwelt until the new harvest. When provisions ran out, he again ordered what he had commanded to be set aside for the use of the Brethren to be measured out, which was done three times. In the minds of the Brethren there was so great an affection of mercy that they would gladly have spent everything, if it were permitted. For whatever each one could take from himself, he would secretly bring to those consumed by starvation. And thus they were barely rescued from the danger of famine; for sometimes a person was found dead with bread still in their mouth.

[15] Nor do I think this should be passed over in silence: since at that same time the perverse Felician heresy had invaded almost that entire province, he refutes the Felician heresy: he emerged unharmed from every pestiferous error of perfidy by divine help, and rescued many -- not only among those of lower rank, but even Prelates of the Church -- by his zeal, and armed with the true weapons of disputation, he often engaged against the wicked doctrine.

[16] fervent monks For at that time there was both a numerous crowd of Brethren and one kindled in the fervor of perpetual life. They competed, indeed, as to who among them might be more humble, who more ready in obedience, more ardent in abstinence, earlier at the vigils, later in speaking, viler in clothing, more fervent in charity. Revelations were also made to some of them. For there was a certain Brother who, by human standards, was less well-composed: when the Father observed him walking negligently, he began to judge in his mind the same rusticity. But this man, carried away in ecstasy, seeing a flock of doves gathered together, by a vision some of wondrous brightness shining, some distinguished by a marvelous variety, while others bore a dark color only on their heads. When he asked what this might be, the names of each were spoken, whose either negligence had made them dark or zeal made them shining with splendor. Returning to himself, he reported to the Father what he had seen and admonished him not to despise him. But the Father, examining the deeds of each, he instructs the troubled: finding the minds of the Brethren, about which he had learned from the Brother, to be disturbed, applied the gentle poultice of correction and brought them into proper order.

[17] But the ancient enemy, vexed by the unity and growth of the good flock, strove to shake the hearts of certain men, so as to render the good teacher an exile from his own sheepfold. He drove many from the monastery by his craft and disturbed many more; but he was unable to shake the mind prepared for tribulations, and the shattered forces

were recovered as they were about to perish. He incites those subject to him, orders damage to be inflicted, commands horses and oxen to be stolen both secretly and openly. But he who had placed God before all things loses without sorrow what he possessed without love. Certainly no one ever saw him disturbed over any lost thing: he does good to thieves: what was lost he never demanded back; what was stolen he never sought. If the thief was caught, he gave him a gift; if he was hiding, he let him go lest he be caught. For when a certain man was secretly taking the horses of the monastery, he was caught by the neighbors not without a wound and was presented to the Father: to whom he provided expenses, appointed a physician, and sent him away healed and unharmed. It happened on another occasion, when the venerable Father was traveling with another Brother accompanying him, that a certain man riding a horse stolen from the monastery met them. The Brother, looking with curious eyes, recognized the one who had stolen it; forthwith he burst out in speech, saying it was the monastery's horse. But he ordered him to be silent: A horse often resembles a horse, he said. But privately he rebuked the Brother, saying: I also recognized it; but I judge it better to be silent than to bring shame upon someone.

[18] And since almighty God, who created all things, also works wonders through his servants at fitting times, by prayer he averts a fire, I shall touch upon a few of the things he accomplished through this man with a brief account. A fire at a certain time invaded a building situated next to the basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary; but while the voracious flame licked the dry thatch, the grieving Brethren ran together, seeing the building they had built with no small labor being consumed by the ravaging flames. With the greatest effort they strove to prevent the fire from setting alight the neighboring church: for the whole force of the fire was carried in that direction. Father Benedict also came to this spectacle, and the Brethren forthwith besought him to assist them with his prayers. But he, swiftly obeying the commands of the Brethren, prostrated himself with tears before the altar of the Blessed Virgin and Mother of God, Mary. And while he prayed, forthwith, by the help of divine mercy, the force of the fire turned in the opposite direction.

[19] At the same time there came so great a multitude of locusts that by their density they hid the rays of the sun, he drives away locusts, and in a massed assault they settled upon a vineyard near the monastery, intending to devastate it, from which the Brethren were accustomed to receive their drink above all else. The venerable man entered the basilica of the Blessed Mother of God, and with tearful voice, bathed in tears, he implored divine assistance; and after a little while the locusts departed from their ill rest.

[20] Again, on another occasion, fire invaded a neighboring hill and began to lick the dry stubble and foliage, he stops a fire: and the earth parched by the heat of the sun, and with its force it was advancing, threatening ruin to the vineyard and the monastery. To extinguish it the whole crowd of Brethren ran, with whom the venerable Father Benedict also came. But the fire forthwith abandoned its course, hastening to be extinguished to the right and left. For I believe that so great a conflagration could not have been overcome except by his prayer.

[21] A certain Brother also had been assigned the care of the cattle. When he wished to go from the monastery to his duty, Signed with the Cross by him, he is left unharmed by robbers: he asked the Father for a blessing. The Father forthwith gave him the sign of the Cross, saying: May the Lord keep you. But when the Brother had come to a resting place, he met two robbers, by whom, having approached incautiously, he was seized by the bridle of the horse on which he sat. But they looked at him for a long time, said nothing, and let him go. And he departed quickly, and after he had reported to the Father, he said: The blessing of God preserved you unharmed.

[21] Nor should that be passed over in silence which I myself witnessed. For a certain Brother was appointed Provost; a proud man is corrected with rods. but having fallen into pride, he was deposed from the office of the provostship. He finally fell to such wickedness that he secretly led a horse out of the monastery. When he was caught, he ordered him to be brought to the monastery with his feet tied beneath the horse, screaming and swearing that he would never go away from there. On account of his foolishness he ordered him to be smoothed with rods, and thus thereafter living justly and piously he was at rest in the monastery, as if the malignant enemy himself had been beaten in him.

CHAPTER V

The temple at Aniane built by Saint Benedict: the monastery established.

[22] Let what has been said thus far suffice concerning the Life of so great a Father -- how, illuminated by divine clemency, he left the world, and how he migrated to the regions of the Goths, and built a monastery with new work. He builds the temple of the Saviour: Now, with Christ's help, let us set forth in clear terms by what means he built another monastery in the same place by the command of Charles. In the year, therefore, 772 of the Lord, the fourteenth of King Charles the Great, with Dukes and Counts assisting him, he began to construct another very large church in honor of our Lord and Saviour. He also built other cloisters with new work, with very many marble columns set in the porticoes: he now covered the buildings not with thatch but with tiles. The place was endowed with such sanctity that whoever comes in faith to make a petition, and does not hesitate in his heart but believes, may forthwith obtain what he has asked. Since, therefore, it shines with wondrous religiosity, we have deemed it right to set forth something about the arrangement of this place for those who come after.

[23] For the venerable Father Benedict, moved by pious consideration, arranged to consecrate the aforesaid church not in the designation of any Saint, but in the name of the Deifying Trinity (as we have already said). in it he establishes an altar of the Holy Trinity, What I say, in order that it may be recognized more clearly than light: in the altar which appears most important above the rest, he determined that three individual altars should be placed beneath it, so that in the three altars the undivided Trinity, and in the one altar the essentially firm Deity, might be demonstrated. That altar is solid on the outside but hollow within: prefiguring that which Moses built in the wilderness, having a small door at the back, by which on ordinary days enclosed caskets with various relics of the Fathers are kept. Let what has been said about the altar suffice. Let us proceed briefly to the furnishing of the building, in what order and number it has been arranged. seven candelabra, For all the utensils that are found in that building are known to have been consecrated in the number seven: namely, seven candelabra produced by wonderful craftsmanship, from whose stem proceed shafts, spheres, lilies, reeds, and cups in the shape of a nut, made in the likeness of that which Bezalel composed with wondrous skill. Seven bronze lamps, Before the altar also hang seven lamps, wondrous and most beautiful, cast with inestimable labor, which by skilled persons who wish to view them are said to have been fashioned in the manner of Solomon. Seven silver ones: An equal number of silver lamps hang in the choir, in the shape of a crown, which receive cups inserted in circles around them, and it is the custom on principal feast days to fill them with oil and light them, and when lit, the whole church shines at night as in the day.

[24] Three altars, moreover, are dedicated in the same church or basilica: one in honor of Saint Michael the Archangel, other altars, another in veneration of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and the third in honor of the blessed Protomartyr Stephen. In the church of the Blessed Mother of God, Mary, which was founded first, altars of Saint Martin

and also of Blessed Benedict are seen to be present. That church, however, which stands built in the cemetery, is known to have been consecrated in honor of Saint John the Baptist, than whom no greater has arisen among those born of women, as the divine oracles attest. Matthew 11:11 It is pleasing to consider with what humility and reverence this awe-inspiring place should be regarded, which is seen to be fortified by so many Princes. mystically explained. For the Lord Christ is the Prince of all Princes, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. The Blessed Mary, Mother of the same God, is believed to be the Queen of all Virgins. Michael is set above all the Angels. Peter and Paul are the heads of the Apostles. Stephen the Protomartyr holds the primacy in the chorus of witnesses. Martin indeed shines as a gem of Prelates. Benedict is the Father of all monks. In the seven altars, moreover, in the seven candelabra, and in the seven lamps, the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit is understood.

[25] Let whoever wishes to read or hear this Life know that this is the head of all monasteries, not only those which are seen to have been built in the regions of Gothia, but also of those which in other regions were in that time, He collects monastic Rules: and afterward after his example were built and enriched from his treasures, as will be shown in the narrative ahead. He set his heart to investigating the Rule of Blessed Benedict, and striving to understand it, he went around to monasteries, questioning all the experts about what he did not know, and he gathered together whatever Rules of all the Saints he could find, and he learned useful norms and the wholesome customs of monasteries, and handed them down to his monks to be observed. He appointed cantors, taught readers, he provides for his monastery, had grammarians and persons skilled in the knowledge of the Scriptures, from whom some later became Bishops; he assembled a multitude of books, acquired precious ecclesiastical vestments, very large silver chalices, silver offertory plates, and whatever he saw to be necessary for the work of God, with the utmost zeal. He was thus made known to all, and the fame of his sanctity penetrated the royal and imperial ears. He then went to the most glorious Emperor Charles for the benefit of the monastery, and obtains immunity, and presenting the monastery to him with pious consideration, lest those who survived after his departure should suffer injuries from his relatives, he handed it over for possession by charter, from whom he forthwith received immunity.

CHAPTER VI

The monastery of Gellone built by Saint William, Duke of Aquitaine. His Life.

[26] William also, a Count who was the most illustrious of all in the court of the Emperor, clung to Blessed Benedict thereafter with so great an affection of love that, despising worldly dignities, he chose him as his guide on the way of salvation by which he might reach Christ. Having at length received permission to convert, he followed the venerable man with great gifts of gold and silver Saint William converted by Saint Benedict, and fine garments. Nor did he suffer any delay in laying down his locks; rather, on the feast day of the Nativity of the Apostles Peter and Paul, putting off his gold-woven vestments, he put on the habit of a worshipper of Christ, from a Count he becomes a monk, and rejoiced to be enrolled in the number of the citizens of heaven. The valley, moreover, is distant about four miles from the monastery of the blessed man Benedict, whose name is Gellone, in which the aforesaid Count, while still placed in the dignity of the world, had ordered a cell to be built. There he delivered himself to serve Christ for the duration of his life. And since he was born of noble parents, he strove to become more noble by embracing the poverty of Christ, and cast aside the supreme honor which he had already received in his spirit, for the sake of Christ.

[27] I think it right to set forth to those who do not know the pious deeds of his conversion. For the venerable Father Benedict had already placed his monks in the aforesaid cell, instructed by whose example, within a few days he surpassed in virtues those by whom he had been taught. With his sons also assisting him, whom he had placed over his counties, and neighboring counts, he quickly brought to completion the construction of the monastery which he had begun. he builds the monastery of Gellone, That place is so secluded that its inhabitant does not long for solitude. It is surrounded on all sides by cloud-bearing mountains, and no one has access there except one whom a willing spirit has led for the purpose of praying. It is suffused with such pleasantness that if one has resolved to serve God, he desires no other place: for there are vineyards which the aforesaid man ordered to be planted, an abundance of gardens furnished with various kinds of different trees. and enriches it, He acquired very many possessions. At his request, the most serene King Louis expanded this with a spacious boundary, granting places from his own estates for cultivation. He gave very many sacred vestments, prepared silver chalices and offertory plates, brought with him very many books, and clothed the altars with gold and silver. For upon entering this cell he dedicated himself wholly to Christ, leaving no trace of worldly pomp.

[28] Thereafter he was of such great humility that scarcely any monk, rare or none, could so bend himself when they happened to meet that he would not be surpassed in humility by him. a man of the greatest humility, charity, We have often seen him sitting upon his donkey, carrying a flask of wine in the saddlecloth, and riding upon it with a chalice on his shoulders, going to meet the Brethren of our monastery at harvest time to refresh their thirst. In the vigils he was so watchful that he surpassed all. In the bakehouse, unless some occupation prevented or illness delayed him, he worked with his own hands. He fulfilled his turn in the kitchen and had assumed the outward form of the utmost humility. He was a lover of fasting, constant in prayers, continuous in compunction; of devotion, he could scarcely receive the Body of Christ before drops of his tears ran down upon the ground. He eagerly sought the hardness of his bed, but on account of his ill health Father Benedict had a mattress placed beneath him, though he was unwilling. Some say that he often had himself beaten with scourges for the love of Christ, of mortification: with no one else aware except the one who was present. In the middle of nearly every night, in utterly glacial cold, rarely covered by a single garment,

often in the oratory which he had built in honor of Saint Michael, known to God alone, he stood occupied in prayers. Supplied within a few years by these and other fruits of virtue, knowing that the day of his death was approaching, he caused it to be made known by writing to almost all monasteries situated in the kingdom of Lord Charles that he had now departed from this world, he dies. and thus thereafter, carrying away an abundance of virtues, he migrated at Christ's call.

CHAPTER VII

Various monasteries subject to Saint Benedict.

[29] Let what has been said suffice for those wishing to know these things; let us return to the work we have begun. The most pious King Louis also, the more the venerable Abbot Benedict was mocked by wicked men, the more closely he joined him to himself in the bond of love, knowing that it is the custom of the wicked to obstruct the progress of the just. The queen also esteemed him with pious affection, The monastery of Menat in Auvergne is given to him by Louis the Pious: and because she knew him to be righteous, she listened to him gladly. And since the crowd of his disciples had grown and the place where he dwelt was barren, and the soil nearly sterile and scorched by the heat of the sun, she gave him a monastery situated in the territory of Auvergne which Saint Meneleus, born of royal stock, had founded, in which he also lies in body. There he sent twelve monks, appointing over them an Abbot of the highest reverence, a man named Andoar, who had clung to him from the earliest time of his conversion, a proven man and worn down by many labors. As they labored and strove with pious zeal, nearly seventy or more adhered to them, observing the monastic life as best they could.

[30] When on a certain occasion the distinguished Abbot was going to visit the Brethren at that monastery, and from another direction another Abbot with his Brethren was seeking his arrival, it happened that he came to a cell of the same monastery where there was a church dedicated in honor of God and our Saviour. For the Brethren had first begun to live there, and because the place was cramped, the most serene King had transferred them to the aforesaid monastery. The Brethren who had remained to oversee the cell, where wine is divinely multiplied in a vessel, seeing the Abbot together with his companions, rejoiced. And because there was great poverty among them, they were sad; but since, where charity is, even a little suffices, the one who was in charge of the Brethren ordered a young man to bring wine. To whom the youth forthwith said: There is nothing of wine in the vessel. For the departing Brethren had left them two very small vessels in which there was a little wine, from which they might either sing Masses or receive individual draughts on Sundays. The master of that cell, upon hearing that there was no wine in the vessel, was grieved, and said confidently: Go and bring it to us, for out of love for our Father these men will drink, who trust in God, and the wine will not fail. The Brother went and, the stopper having been drawn, wine flowed out. Indeed earlier he had wished to take some but, finding none, had gone away. He reported what had happened; those present glorified God and declared it was done through the merits of the Lord Benedict. They drank therefore as they wished and took some with them for the sake of a blessing. And when the Lord Benedict came with his companions, he received as much as was needed and took some of it with him on the way. And so after this the vessel ceased to pour forth wine. From the very Brethren who saw these things and report them I have learned; they remain witnesses of these things to this day.

[31] On yet another occasion he came to the same monastery. After a long sermon of preaching and a pious colloquy of conversation, as he was about to depart, he gave the kiss of peace to the Brethren. A certain man, however, approached to kiss him, and when the man of God caught sight of him, he forthwith stopped, the wayward are corrected by delaying the kiss: and denied the kiss of peace for a moment; but after a fitting rebuke, to our amazement, he kissed the Brother. After him another Brother also came forward among the rest, to whom he did the same. Then at last, bidding a final farewell to the Brethren, he departed. After he had gone, on the next day it was discovered that those Brethren had planned to take flight. We understood then that for this reason the venerable Abbot was slow to kiss them, the Holy Spirit having revealed it to him, and that although he did not openly reveal their perverse intention, he nonetheless wholesomely rebuked their troubled consciences.

[32] The most glorious King also gave him another monastery, where, as I think, he sent twenty monks and appointed an Abbot for them. That monastery is situated in the territory of Poitou and is dedicated in honor of Saint Savinus, in which the Brethren who were placed, while they were vigilant and laboring in pious studies, the monasteries of Saint-Savin are also given, a considerable crowd of monks joined them. Again the King bestowed upon him another monastery situated in the territory of Bourges, and there he placed about forty monks and appointed an Abbot. And since that place needed to be founded with new construction, he provided assistance, Massay, gave books and sacred vestments. And those men, flourishing in the habit of holy religion and displaying the norm of holy conduct, maintaining also the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, gathered a very great flock of monks within the sheepfold of Christ.

[33] A certain man also, named Ulfarius, having no blood relative, an illustrious and noble man, handed over to him by charter a place in the territory of Albi for building a monastery, Casa Nova, where he also sent monks, about twelve, having appointed an Abbot for them. And to these also, since they were striving to complete the construction of the monastery begun with new work, he gave very many books, provided sacred vestments, a silver chalice, offertory plates, a Cross, and everything that he foresaw would be necessary for them. They themselves, striving both in the building of physical structures and in the edification of souls and in the precepts of the holy Rule, acquired a great congregation of religious Brethren serving Christ God.

[34] After the death of the most serene Emperor Charles, when his son Louis, King of the Aquitanians, had assumed the care of the Empire, he commanded him to go to the regions of Francia,

and assigned him in Alsace the monastery of Maurus, where he placed many followers of his manner of life from the monastery of Aniane. And since the aforesaid place is at a great distance from the palace, Maurus and he could not arrive at a suitable time when summoned; and because he was necessary to the Emperor for many reasons, it pleased the Emperor that he should find a place suitable for himself not far from the palace, where he might rest with a few companions. And so, having appointed an Abbot over the Brethren dwelling at Maurus, Inde: he himself with some companions came to comply with the Emperor's will. Now there was a neighboring valley, which is distant from the palace, I believe, no more than six miles, which pleased the eyes of the man of God. And there the Emperor ordered a monastery of wondrous construction to be built, which is called Inde, borrowing its name from the stream of that same valley. At the dedication of the church the Emperor was present, and enriched it most abundantly from his own estates, and ordered immunity; and by written decree he established that thirty Brethren, monks serving Christ God, should remain there. For which reason, in order that the number be filled, the venerable Abbot commanded chosen Brethren to come from well-known monasteries, whom he might instruct by his own example, and they would be a model of salvation for others, until by the prompting of divine grace, those from the same province who desired to serve the eternal King, having left worldly pomp, should be enrolled in their order.

[35] After this the man of God began to frequent the doors of the palace, and for the benefit of many to bear the tumult he had long since dismissed. he advocates for all before the Emperor, For all who, having suffered the injuries of others, sought imperial help, when they came to him, he would joyfully receive and kiss them, and would present their complaints, written down on slips of paper, to the Emperor at an opportune time. From these the most Serene Emperor, being accustomed to this, would sometimes feel his napkin and sleeves and find them there, and would read what he found and decide as he knew to be most useful. For on account of forgetfulness he was accustomed to carry them in such places. The Emperor also gladly heard complaints of this kind, and for that reason especially he ordered him to be constantly present at the palace. For although there were very many who consulted him concerning the governance of the kingdom, the administration of the provinces, and their own interests, no one at all so compassionated the miseries of the afflicted, and no one so revealed the want of monks to the King as he did. especially for monks. For he was the advocate of the wretched, but the father of monks; the consoler of the poor, but the instructor of monks; he provided the food of life to the rich, but he impressed the discipline of the Rule upon the minds of monks. Although he consulted the interests of all, he nevertheless attended assiduously to the needs of monks.

f. In the year 814.

CHAPTER VIII

The accurate observance of the Rule introduced by Saint Benedict: the Concordance written by him.

[36] The Emperor also placed him over all the monasteries in his kingdom, so that, just as he had instructed Aquitaine and Gothia in the norm of salvation, he might likewise imbue the Franks with his saving example. For there were many monasteries which had formerly been regularly instituted, but gradually, as the rigor of the regular order grew lukewarm, it had almost perished. In order, however, that just as there was one profession for all, so also there might be one wholesome custom for all monasteries, at the Emperor's command, with the Fathers of the monasteries gathered together along with very many monks, In the assembly of Aachen he prescribes statutes, he sat for very many days. With all thus assembled, reviewing the Rule from the beginning, elucidating for all what was obscure, he laid open what was doubtful: he removed old errors and confirmed useful customs and practices. The judgments of the Rule, therefore, and all doubtful matters, having been brought to a profitable resolution, and the customs which the Rule does not fully set forth, with the assent of all, he brought forward; concerning which he also presented to the Emperor a Capitulary Statute for confirmation, delivered to all monasteries: that he might command all monasteries in his kingdom to observe it -- to which book we direct anyone wishing to know. To this the Emperor forthwith gave his assent, and placed inspectors in each monastery to examine whether the things that had been decided were being so observed, and also to convey the wholesome pattern to those who were ignorant of it. The work was thus perfected and propagated with the help of divine mercy, and one Rule was universally imposed for all to observe, and all monasteries were reduced to a pattern of unity, as if they were being instructed by one Master and in one place. accurately observed at Inde: A uniform measure in drink, in food, in the vigils, in the chanting, was delivered to be observed by all. And since he had established in other monasteries that the Rule should be observed, he so instructed his own men dwelling at Inde with every attention that monks arriving from various regions would not need, so to speak, to be instructed by resounding words; because in the conduct, gait, and dress of each individual they could see the pattern and discipline of the Rule depicted.

[37] he writes the Order of monastic life On account of the undiscriminating fervor of many and the inept tepidity and insufficient capacity of understanding of others, he established an optimum standard and delivered the order to be observed by all: with great discretion accommodated to each: restraining those lest they seek what is superfluous; commanding these to shake off their torpor; admonishing yet others to at least desire to fulfill what is commanded. For the Rule indeed orders many things to be fulfilled, but there are very many things which daily custom requires to be accomplished, yet the Rule itself is silent about them: from all of which the habit of the monk is adorned as with gems, and without which he is proven to be dissolute and lax and disordered. Some things, moreover, it commands which are altered either on account of the concord of unity, or certainly on account of the observance of propriety, or on account of the consideration of frailty. Wherefore the venerable Abbot of pious memory, whatever he found to be observed, decreed to fulfill without any delay or pretense of excuse. But those things which for certain reasons he recognized must be either relinquished or altered, he likewise delivered to his disciples to be observed, as more rightly and according to ability and the situation of the place he recognized to be fitting: if indeed the page of the Rule sets forth anything less clearly, or is altogether silent, he reasonably and fittingly established and supplied it, concerning which, aided by divine help, I shall touch upon a few things in my account.

[38] First, from it, excerpts concerning the divine Offices, before the signal is rung for the nocturnal hours, he ordered a small bell to be sounded in the dormitory of the Brethren, so that the congregation of monks, first fortified by prayers, would remain in their own places; then at last, with the doors of the church opened, entry would be open to guests. Rising

quickly, according to what the Rule prescribes, let the Brethren sprinkle themselves with holy water and humbly and reverently visit all the altars; then let them approach their proper places and be ready, so that when the third signal sounds, nocturnal rising without delay, with attentive ears they should await the Priest who has been assigned the office of beginning. Nor shall anyone be allowed during this interval to stand in the corners of the church -- namely, of those who have been ordered to enter -- but sitting in the choir, let them chant the appointed psalms in secret. He ordered five psalms to be sung for all the faithful living throughout the whole world; five also for all the faithful departed; for those who have recently died and whose cases have individually come to our knowledge, he likewise established that five should be continually sung. When the five psalms have been completed, let him prostrate himself in prayer, commending to God those for whom he has sung, and then let him take up the beginning of prayer for others. Nor should one be sluggish in supplicating the eternal King with the body cast down upon the earth for fixed and appointed psalmodies, since one does not scruple to bow the head at every word before earthly rulers -- especially since in this manner divine grace is provoked and the fervor of compunction is aroused.

[39] In the summer season, after the office of Matins has been completed, he ordered them to go out from the church immediately on account of drowsiness: the daytime office. and putting on their shoes, with faces washed, let them return quickly to the church, and according to the aforesaid order let them reverently visit the altars and sprinkle themselves with holy water; and so thereafter let them approach the places assigned to them, about to honorably recite the daytime office. These offices, according to the Roman rite... and let them be ready, so that when the signal for the Hour of Prime is rung, they may forthwith hasten to the choir. He ordered the signal to be rung at such length that all would arrive while it was sounding, and when it ceased the Priest would begin the Hour. When Prime is completed, the daytime office let them assemble together and hold Chapter, and when that is completed, let them go out in silence or while chanting psalms to the work assigned to them. Those remaining in the monastery, moreover, should not occupy themselves with idle tales, but two by two, or indeed singly, in the kitchen, in the bakehouse, in the cellar, let them sing psalms. After Compline he established that no one should go out or tarry in the oratory according to his own will, the evening office; but in winter let them first sing ten psalms, and in summer five; and then when the signal is rung, let all together, according to the aforesaid manner, go around all the altars, and so let each retire to his bed to rest. On these three occasions each day he commanded all the altars to be visited, and at the first of them let them say the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, and at the others the Lord's Prayer, or let them confess their sins. During the daytime Hours of prayer, let each approach his own place to pray; but if he wishes to pray privately for himself, let him do so freely at whatever hours he has available. He established these three occasions of prayer, therefore, so that those who are sluggish through torpor and disdain to pray might at least, when compelled, do what they will not do willingly, and might not presume to abandon the appointed hours; while those who are inflamed with excessive love might be restrained lest they seek other things indiscriminately. For it often happens that by the indiscretion of a single night they are worn down by excessive vigils, and at the hours when they ought to be attentive to the divine psalmody, overcome by sleep, they are unable to fulfill the divine task.

[40] In dress, too, the custom of many had created dissimilarity: for the cowls of some hung down to their ankles. he prescribes uniform clothing for all: Wherefore the man of God established a uniform measure to be maintained by all monks, so that the measurement should not exceed two cubits, or could reach to the knees. He also conceded, for the sake of necessity, beyond what the Rule prescribes: namely, two linen undergarments and drawers, and also fur garments; and for their outer covering, two capes, and whatever he foresaw to be necessary, in order to remove every occasion for pretext, he granted and conceded. He also showed the Emperor by writing the rationale concerning those things which the Rule commands but for certain reasons remain untouched, and concerning those things which it altogether passes over in silence but are usefully supplied. For he had turned all his desire toward the observance of the Rule, he seeks the interpretation of the Rule: and this was his greatest study, that nothing should exceed his understanding of it. For which reason he attentively inquired of those whom he knew to be experts, and even those far distant, including those who in these parts would go to Monte Cassino, as men who would perceive not merely what was heard but what was seen. On account of which love of understanding, when anyone revealed to him something new, he would forthwith receive it humbly and say with the greatest reverence that he was not yet able to know the hidden meanings of the Rule. And although he himself had elucidated it for all -- I will not say for beginners, but for the wise themselves -- he would declare that he had received new and unheard-of things not only from the learned but even from the simpler ones.

[41] He therefore made a book collected from the Rules of various Fathers, so that the Rule of Blessed Benedict was first among all, which he ordered to be read at all times at the morning Chapter. he publishes books, From this, again, in order to show the contentious that nothing frivolous and empty had been set forth by Blessed Benedict, but that his Rule was supported from those of others, he composed another book from collected sentences of the Rules, to which he gave the name Concordance of Rules: the Concordance of Rules, in such a way that the sentence of Blessed Benedict would come first, and those agreeing with it in a reasonable manner would be appended thereafter. He likewise connected another book from the homilies of the holy Doctors which had been delivered Exhortations. for the exhortation of monks, and ordered it to be read at all times at the evening Chapter.

p. The same assembly prescribes two tunics, which are here called "tegumenta," two capes and two cowls, concerning which Haeften and others treat accurately.

q. In the testament of Saint Gennadius, Bishop of Astorga, who flourished around the year 900, among the books donated by him to the monastery of Saint Peter of Montes, there is listed a book of the Rules of illustrious men, Book of the Rules of the Fathers. about which Menard is uncertain whether it is the same as that which Saint Benedict is here reported to have published. Saint Gennadius is venerated on May 25.

r. Saint Benedict suggests the same things in the preface of the Concordance.

s. Hence Trithemius, Wion, Possevinus, Concordance of Rules. Clement Reyner, Yepes, Bale, Pits, and others are clearly refuted when they attribute the Concordance

of Rules to Saint Benedict Biscop the Englishman, whose Life we gave on January 12.

t. This book exists in the Fleury manuscript at the end of the Concordance, but mutilated with some leaves torn out at the end. In it the virtues and vices of monks are discussed: Exhortations. to which we wish light to be brought by some illustrious Benedictine writer, such as Menard gave to the Concordance. Others also attribute the same to Saint Benedict Biscop.

CHAPTER IX.

Benefits conferred by Saint Benedict on various persons. His illness and death.

[42] Seeing also that certain men were striving with all their might to acquire the monasteries of monks, and not only seeking to obtain them by prayers but even contending with gifts, and that the stipends of monks were being spent for their own uses, and on account of this some had been destroyed while others had been obtained by secular Clerics, the monks having been driven out; He takes care that regular Abbots are placed over monasteries. he approached the most pious Emperor on this account and besought him with entreaties, that he might render the Clerics free from such contentions and the monks free from this danger. The most glorious Emperor gave his assent and decreed that in all the designated monasteries in his kingdom where there could be regular Abbots, this should be so; and he commanded it to be confirmed by written decree that they should remain inviolate at all times, and sealed it with his ring. And so he wiped away the greed of many and likewise the fear of monks. There were also many of those monasteries in which monks were lacking, and the most pious King, considering these at the suggestion of the aforesaid man, ordered them to be served as far as possible, so that nothing should be lacking to those serving God, and on that account they should pray most devoutly to the Lord for him and his offspring, and for the state of the whole kingdom. For those monasteries which were left under the authority of Canons, he established for them separately the means by which they could live according to the Rule, and conceded the rest to the Abbot.

[43] What happened by the will of God when he was proceeding to a general court at the Emperor's command, I do not think should be passed over in silence. He was traveling in poor health and exhausted by excessive heat, about to obey the royal commands; armed with the weapons of charity, prepared to fulfill the interests of many. But the enemy who always envies pious deeds, Patiently bearing the loss of horses in order to inflict harm on the health of the pious, contrived to delay him from his course by this stratagem: he drove the horses on which he was to ride through the vast forests, to places almost unknown to the guards. But the man of God, struck by no grief over the lost horses, arrived cheerfully almost at the royal doors. When the interests of the monasteries and monks, about which he had a great and constant and pious solicitude, were fulfilled, the diminished number of horses was replenished by the King; he recovers them: and after the space of one month the lost horses were brought back. And so it was divinely brought about that, because he did not grieve over the loss, he should receive a doubled gain.

[44] After this he began to be worn down by various and diverse infirmities, and to prepare his little body, worn out through many years by continual vigils, constant tears, most severe fasting, and labors and meditations, for a new contest: vigorous in sickness and labors, so that he who, having subdued vices, had obtained the citadel of virtues, might nobly fight, girded with the arms of patience against infirmities, and receive from his King a doubled victor's palm over the vanquished enemies. For the more violently he was struck by illness, the more intently he persisted either in prayers or in reading. No one found him idle, no one at all found him sluggish in the work of God, no one found him occupied with vain and frivolous tales: for either he himself was engaged in reading, or he was attentively listening to someone reading. Who ever found him alone except weeping? Who, entering suddenly to see him, ever found his cheeks dry? And did not find him either prostrate on the ground, or standing with hands raised to heaven, or receiving tears in his fists lest the pages of the sacred volume be too much dampened by weeping? The powers of the flesh were failing, but the resolve of his mind persisted harder than adamant, the rigor once begun almost itself enduring. He did not accept the eating of the flesh of quadrupeds from the day of his conversion; he scarcely ever indulged in baths, even in his final period when worn down by illnesses; he was accustomed to change his garment after forty or more days. He would order the life and deaths of the holy Fathers to be read aloud in his presence, by which reading his spirit, refreshed, persevered more strongly. O good Jesus, with what sighs and tears his spirit burned, desiring to be dissolved and to be with Christ -- yet not refusing to bear labor if he should be needed by the Brethren!

[45] But when the illness grew worse, having spoken familiarly with the Emperor, he was brought to the monastery, and bidding farewell to the Brethren, spending the whole night in prayers and psalmody, he performed the regular office of that day. But when he was completing the regular office of the next day and wished to finish the course, they reached the verse: You are just, O Lord; chanting this verse he said: I fail; and added: Deal with your servant, O Lord, according to your mercy: he dies piously. and so, amid the words of prayer, he sent forth his spirit adorned with virtues. There are, moreover, his Letters, sweeter than all riches, which he dictated with his own mouth to the Brethren stationed at Aniane on the day before he departed from the world, in which he testifies that they would no longer see his face. Some also say that at the hour when he migrated to Christ, his death was revealed to Bishop Stoebel of Maguelone: for rising from sleep, he forthwith reported to his household what had happened. We have touched upon his death only briefly, since the Brethren who were present at that time have set it forth at greater length, as the following page demonstrates.

CHAPTER X

Letter of the monks of Inde concerning the life and death of Saint Benedict.

From three manuscripts.

[46] Benedict, therefore, an Abbot who arose in the province of Gothia under Pippin, King of the Franks, and after his death under his son Charles, served in the military from the time of infancy up to adolescence. After this, however, having left the palace, he took the habit of a true monk in the monastery of Saint-Seine in the province of the Burgundians: From a soldier, a monk. and remaining there for two and a half years, he served God unceasingly. But since he did not find regular observance there, he migrated to the regions of Gothia; and there, upon the river Aniane, he first built a cell with his own hand, and afterward, with the Brethren themselves who had come under his governance for the love of Christ, he builds two monasteries, he constructed a monastery from new work: in which, after no long time, he had three hundred monks under his governance.

And when the Emperor Charles had died and his son Louis, assuming the Empire, caused the venerable man Benedict, together with certain of his disciples, to come to Francia, and first gave him in the territory of Alsace the monastery of Maurus; afterward, out of love for him, near the palace of Aachen, upon the river Inde, he built a monastery for him from new work. This is the Benedict through whom the Lord Christ restored the Rule of Saint Benedict in every part of the Frankish kingdom: he governs twelve, he had under his governance twelve monasteries: namely, Aniane, Gellone, Casa Nova, Ile-Barbe, Menat, Saint-Savin, Saint-Maximin, Massay, Cormery, Celleneuve in the Toulousain, the monastery of Maurus in Alsace, and Inde, built at the command of the Emperor for his and his disciples' use and enriched from the royal estates. In all of these he sent monks and leaders from his own instruction. Dear to the Emperor, He had the greatest care for the entire ecclesiastical order, namely of monks, Canons, and laymen, but especially of monks.

[47] The Emperor gladly heard and followed all his counsel: whence he was also called a monk by some, namely because out of love for him he always called monks his own. And after his death he still professes publicly to this day that he is the Abbot of that monastery. The holy man, therefore, persevered at the palace of the King until his death, for the increase of the faithful, not for earthly things, he is seized by fever, since the monastery in which he dwelt was nearby.

[48] On the fourth day before his departure, however, while still healthy, he repeated to the Emperor all those things which he was accustomed to say to him. And on that very day he was seized by fever and reached his lodging. On the next day, hearing of this, all the magnates of the Emperor came to visit him. So great was the multitude of Bishops, Abbots, and monks there, that for us, who were watching over him, there was scarcely the opportunity to approach him. The Abbot Helisachar, however, was the first to come to him and remained with him until his death. For he fell ill on a Thursday, and on Friday night the Emperor sent Tanculf the Chamberlain, ordering us to carry him to the monastery that very night. he is carried to the monastery, Lifting him before the cock-crow, together with Helisachar and his and our men, we brought him to the monastery at the first hour of the day. And when it was the third hour, he ordered everyone to go out from him, and he remained alone until the sixth hour.

[49] After this the aforesaid Abbot entered with our Provost, and they asked him how he was, to whom he responded that he had never been so well, and added: Up to now I have been standing before the Lord among the choirs of the Saints. For forty years he did not eat except after shedding tears, On the next day, having summoned the Brethren to him, he gave them admonitions of salvation, and then confessed that it had been forty years since he had become a monk, during which years he had never eaten bread on any day until he had first shed tears before God. On that same day he sent a brief admonition to the Emperor, and dispatched others to various monasteries. The same venerable man had given up the entirety of his office for five years and two months before his death -- as we found in his tablets after his death, and as he himself while living told some -- He dies on February 11 in the year of Christ 821 to be sung through by himself.

[50] He died, moreover, at the age of seventy, on the third day before the Ides of February, in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord eight hundred and twenty-one, the fourteenth Indiction, the Concurrent 1, the Epact the fourteenth, the ninth year of the Empire of the most pious Emperor Louis. On the third day afterward we opened his sepulchre and transferred him into a stone vessel which the Emperor had prepared. Uncovering his face, we saw on his forehead and around his eyes and lips so much ruddiness as he had never had while alive. With these things thus accomplished and thus standing, we servants from the monastery of Inde -- namely Deidonus, Leuvigild, Bertad, and Desiderius -- wish you, Ardo, our Master, health in the Lord, and we ask of your charity that according to your wisdom you compose a booklet concerning the life of our Father Benedict and send it to us. All our Brethren greet you, and do you greet all our Brethren. Amen.

FIRST LETTER OF BLESSED BENEDICT, ABBOT OF ANIANE.

Benedict, Abbot of Inde in Belgium (Saint)

To George, Abbot of the monastery of Aniane, and to all the sons and Brethren living well and vigilantly under the norm of the Father, the supreme blessing and felicity in Christ: Benedict, the last of all Abbots, being now at the point of death, wishes salvation.

Above all things that burn in my soul, this is foremost: that I am solicitous about your order of regular life. For I am by no means unaware that you labor nobly and are most faithfully mindful of us, nor that you are in need of any word of exhortation. Nevertheless, being at my last, I do not know whether I can still see you. You know how, with all my efforts, as much as I was able and as long as I could, I solicitously showed you examples of exhortation to life. Now therefore I beseech the Son of God, and through him I testify, that you keep in unanimous unity in the bond of charity those whom I either brought with me or sent somewhere

for some purpose or example -- do not treat them as strangers. But whoever among them wishes to return to you again and to dwell regularly with you, receive them piously and kindly as Brethren, as is fitting. Thanks be to God, you will not lack bodily sustenance. To all generally, but especially to those whom you know to be joined to us in friendship, always extend the most diligent affection; and as you are able, minister to other poor persons what is superfluous to your needs. Also bring assistance to the Abbot Modarlus of Saint-Tiberius in whatever he may need. And concerning these and other matters, act as in our lifetime, and even more so after my death. Just as the monasteries that were formerly corrupted now seem, with the Lord's generosity, to have received some amendment from us, so especially now take care lest (which may it be far from us, I beseech you, merciful God) they should at any time tend down the sinister path. Be joined to the monastery of Inde as to Brethren uniquely. Also hold Helizachar, who beyond all others on earth has at all times been to us a most faithful friend of the Canons, and his Brethren, always in my place, and let your refuge always be to him. But I suggest these things to you now because I do not know whether I shall see you in the present world. For on the seventh day before the Ides of February, struck by a most bitter blow -- by the gift of mercy -- I await nothing other than the last day of my calling.

The Lord Benedict, still living, ordered these things to be written on the fourth day before the Ides of February, and he died on the third day before the Ides of the same month.

SECOND LETTER

Benedict, Abbot of Inde in Belgium (Saint)

BHL Number: 1096

To the venerable Father in Christ, Nibridius the Archbishop, Benedict, the last Abbas of all Abbots, wishes the salvation of everlasting felicity.

Come now, man of God: let charity and love and benevolence spare me now, in whatever way you can, whether by yourself, or through friends and intimates, and also through all the monasteries to which you can send, so that prayers in psalms as well as in Masses do not cease to be poured forth to the Lord for me; for now it is very necessary for me. Know, beloved Father, that I am now fighting at the point of death, running toward the end; my soul is already being separated from my body, and in this light I do not hope to see you with the eyes of the body. May he who can make clean from unclean, just from sinner, chaste from impious, grant us equally to enjoy the eternal kingdom, and there with all the Saints to sing a new song. I beseech you, dearest Father, that just as you have always had merit from the Brethren who dwell in the monastery of Aniane, so always, when the soul departs from the body, may you hold them better and better in your holy love. I commend all friends, intimates, and relatives in those parts. In our monastery also, with all your efforts -- so I believe -- you will act by arguing, beseeching, and rebuking, so that with a free voice you may one day be able to say with the Psalmist: I have not hidden your justice in my heart; I have declared your truth and your salvation. Psalm 39:11 Now do all things in charity and discretion; and may the Holy Trinity guard you and bestow eternal rewards. Amen.

ON SAINT BENEDICT, BISHOP OF ALBENGA IN LIGURIA.

In the year of Christ 900.

Benedict, Bishop of Albenga in Liguria (Saint)

I. B.

[1] That at Albenga in Liguria the birthday of Saint Benedict, Bishop of the same city, is celebrated on February 12, and the Translation on December 5, is attested by Ferrari in his General Catalogue of Saints and in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy; The birthday of Saint Benedict, and he cites an inscription that is read in the church of Saint Mary of the Springs, where his relics are preserved. From this inscription it is established that he died in the year 900, his era, and was translated into the chapel dedicated to him in that church in 1409. his translation, The same Ferrari reports in his Annotation that some ignorantly suppose him to be that same Benedict who was Archbishop of Milan, who died around the year 735 and is venerated on March 11. Ferdinand Ughelli mentions Benedict of Albenga in volume 4 of Sacred Italy in the catalogue of the Bishops of that city. His Life was composed from various documents by Dom Philip Malabayla of the Cistercian Order, Visitor of the Congregation of Saint Bernard, commonly called that of Folia, his Life. and was sent to us from Rome in the year 1649.

LIFE

BY DOM PHILIP MALABAYLA

Visitor of the Congregation of Folia.

Benedict, Bishop of Albenga in Liguria (Saint)

By Philip Malabayla.

[1] Albenga (the ancient capital of the Ingaunian Ligurians, situated in a pleasant and fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea) Saint Benedict, Bishop of Albenga, among the innumerable benefits of divine bounty, commemorates this one: that God in his singular piety granted it Saint Benedict, first as a solicitous Pastor and then as a constant Protector. Since the deeds and merits of this man, because destructions and fires that more than once reduced the city itself to ashes, whence the Life is drawn? do not permit us to relate them, we shall transmit concerning him only those things which either constant and harmonious tradition reports, or very ancient paintings show, or the old inscription of his sepulchre suggests.

[2] That this holy Benedict was born in Liguria, in its western part, of the honorable Revelli family, his lineage, from parents conspicuous for Christian piety, among the Ingaunian Ligurians, is agreed upon. But from what place he drew his origin, opinion is not unanimous. The people of Tabia indeed claim him for themselves with these arguments: his fatherland, whether Tabia the town, That, beyond other diocesans and second only to the citizens of Albenga, they have always held him in special veneration; That for several centuries now, in their collegiate church, they have dedicated a chapel to him as their fellow countryman, with the life of the same Saint depicted on its walls, with this inscription added: This work was made at the order of Emanuel de Germanis, formerly Provost of Tabia, and of Nicholas, now Provost, in honor of God and of the Mother Mary and of Saint Benedict, Bishop of Albenga, in the year of the Lord 1413, the 25th day of August. And finally, that outside the walls of Tabia itself, on the road that leads to Badalucco, there stands a building called the House of Saint Benedict, because the same Saint is believed to have been born in it.

[3] On the other hand, the inhabitants of Tabulae (a village about four miles distant from Tabia), in order to prove that he was a native of that place, display the house of the progenitors of this Saint, situated in the middle of Tabulae, its cracks and decay attesting to its antiquity; whether Tabulae the village: and they narrate that his birth, from a tradition received as if by hand from their ancestors, occurred thus. At the time when the mother of this Saint was carrying him in her womb, a plague arose in that region, and was proceeding to consume many mortals, especially in places to which there was free access. Moved by this, the parents of Saint Benedict thought to betake themselves from Tabulae, which was entirely open and therefore exposed to contagion, to Tabia, which was walled and well guarded. But the people of Tabia, lest they should spread the plague in the town if they had previously contracted it, assigned them a place outside the walls, where they should remain for forty days according to the custom. During the very time, therefore, when they were tarrying there, the mother of Benedict brought him into the light, in that very house which the people of Tabia assert was the birthplace of this Saint. The people of Tabulae add as evidence for this tradition that no document proves that the Revelli family ever existed among the people of Tabia, whereas among the people of Tabulae it is very numerous and from there has spread to other places. Whence on an old altar-cloth, under the image of the Saint sewn thereon, these words are read: Saint Benedict de Revellis, of Tabulae, Bishop of Albenga. And Augustinus Schiaffinus in his Annals, about to be published shortly, has this concerning the same Saint: This Saint is commonly believed to be a native of the town of Tabia, from the village called Tabulae.

[4] Born, therefore, in this region, Benedict -- what he showed himself to be in boyhood, what in youth, and what finally when he had grown to manhood, is not found committed to memory. Nevertheless, that he applied himself with equal zeal and piety to acquiring both learning and virtues, in proportion to each period of his age, was sufficiently indicated by his election as Bishop and by the graces with which he rendered this dignity venerable and holy, beyond the state from which he was elevated to the episcopate. For tradition itself reports that our Saint Benedict professed the Order of Saint Benedict, the patriarch of monks, he was a Benedictine monk, and the paintings that are seen in the church near which his body, by divine decree as will be said below, was interred indicate the same; and monks of the same institute formerly resided there, as ancient documents show. For in that church monks clad in a black habit are seen depicted, receiving the body of Saint Benedict himself when it was being brought in, and celebrating joyful funeral rites.

[5] Moreover, fame reports that he once, not indeed in the fervor of a novice but having been taught by the long probation of this monastery to fight against the vices of the flesh and the wiles of the devil, as the same most holy Legislator advises, betook himself to the solitary combat of the desert, to the island of Gallinaria, not very distant from the city of Albenga. Chapter 1 of the Rule, 29 For there many monks of the same holy purpose resided, a hermit on Gallinaria, who gathered for the sacred synaxis in the manner of hermits in a church dedicated to the Most Blessed Virgin and to Saint Martin (who spent some time as an exile on that same island), which is still seen situated on a pleasant hill, recently restored by the Abbot Alessandro Costa.

[6] From this state, I say, elevated to the episcopal dignity, Saint Benedict, mindful of that Apostolic admonition, Romans 12:8 "He who presides, in solicitude," so persevered in his former care concerning himself that he spared no labor, no study, by which he might render the flock committed to him a follower of good works, then a Bishop, and thereby acceptable to God. Who approved this very zeal of his Saint both by other proofs and by the gift of healings. For that he bestowed health and safety upon very many sick persons afflicted with various diseases renowned for the gift of healings, has been accepted by the enduring fame to this day.

[7] When, therefore, he had fulfilled all the parts of the best Pastor for many years, and (for uncertain reasons) was absent from his diocese, having completed his earthly pilgrimage, he arrived at the firm dwelling of the eternal fatherland. This indeed seems to have happened either in the city of Genoa, he died abroad, or certainly in a place more remote from it, as the paintings that exist concerning this very event show. For in them is depicted a small boat bearing the body of the holy Bishop, making toward the setting sun with sails and oars; and a trireme well equipped with oars pursuing this boat with all its might from the port of Genoa. From which it is understood that the Genoese, to whom the sanctity of this blessed man must have been well known, attempted either to retain his relics in their own city, if he had died there, or certainly to acquire them if they were being carried past -- not doubting, indeed, that the places in which the bodies of the Saints are preserved and piously venerated are, he is brought home, not without a miracle: according to the opinion of the great Basil, accustomed to be like the strongest towers and impregnable citadels. But God, who had destined Saint Benedict to the people of Albenga as a Pastor while living and as a protector when dead, at one and the same moment compelled the pursuing trireme to retrace its course by sending an adverse wind, and happily brought the small boat by a favorable wind to the shore of Albenga.

[8] After, therefore, the small boat had landed at the shore opposite Albenga, and it appeared what was being carried in it, the whole city pours out to this spectacle. And after great thanks were given to God for so great a gift, a consultation is held by the magistrate with the chief members of the clergy concerning bringing the sacred body to the Cathedral church. A solemn procession having been announced, and the casket in which it was enclosed having been placed on a cart fittingly adorned, the procession advances toward the Cathedral church itself with hymns and canticles and the festive ringing of bells. But God did not assent to this wish: for where Saint Benedict had given his name to the spiritual warfare, and the bodies of his fellow soldiers rested, there he had decreed that his body also should rest. For when the two young oxen drawing the cart arrived before the church in which we said above monks of the Benedictine institute formerly lived, he is deposited in his monastery, they turned toward it, fell upon their knees, and with bowed heads reverently stood still. Then those who stood near began to marvel; the rest inquired what was delaying the procession. After they saw that the young oxen, however much goaded, could not rise, all understood that the venerable treasure was to be deposited in that very church. by divine will: Lifted therefore from the cart, they bring it into the church. And the monks, coming to meet them, receiving it, with hymns and psalms chanted in pious exultation instead of dirges, they entomb and place it in a spot prepared for the purpose.

[9] That these things occurred in the nine hundredth year of human salvation is indicated by the epigram to be cited presently. From which it also appears that until the nineteenth year of the fifteenth century, in 1409, on December 5, it is brought to a new chapel, the remains interred in that same place lay at rest with the special veneration of the city, the surrounding region, and above all the people of Tabia and Tabulae.

[10] For when in the same church Romeus Cazzulinus, a patrician of Albenga, had caused a chapel to be built under the invocation of the same Saint Benedict, in the year 1409, on December 5, the same sacred body, enclosed in a casket of the whitest marble, was placed upon the altar of that chapel: within a marble casket where there was also the effigy of the Saint sculpted on marble instead of an icon; and the heraldic shield of the Cazzulini family was added, with this epigram attesting to all these things:

In a tomb of marble here the bones of the Blessed Benedict rest: whose mortal time death loosed, at nine hundred years. with this inscription: This our city was blessed, and deservedly, since a pontifical Pastor was chosen for it; and whatever healings he granted to the sick, fortified with love from above. In the year one thousand, four hundred and nine, the translation of his body was made on the fifth day of December. May he protect and govern us.

[11] When the same church was now threatening ruin on account of its age, and did not seem sufficiently large, and therefore was to be restored in a more ample and more suitable form for use, the body of Saint Benedict, on March 1, 1614, he is transferred again: together with the sacred relics of other Saints interred there, was carried to the sacristy, and rested there until the first of March 1614. For on that day the same body, placed in a wooden chest lined inside with purple silk, was returned to the same chapel, now renovated and more elegantly decorated, and was placed in a compartment neatly and fittingly arranged between the altar and the icon: where at present it remains exposed to the veneration of the faithful, with the Counts of Languelia, to whom the rights of the Cazzolini family have passed, claiming the custody of the keys of the aforesaid chest.

[12] The same church, moreover, sacred to the Most Blessed Virgin of the Assumption, as we have said, is in the church of Saint Mary. took its name from the springs: for in those times health-giving waters flowed from it, suitable for curing diseases of every kind. where there were healing springs, later divinely dried up. These waters, if popular report is to be believed, had ceased to flow when a certain woman, about to wash off the filth of a dog, immersed it in them. But recently, by divine bounty -- twelve days after the aforesaid last Translation -- new waters began to spring forth from the lowest foundations of the same church in their former abundance. now one flows: These, drawn widely with faith and piety, are proved to renew their ancient favors, especially in healing those afflicted with fevers.

[13] The feast of this Saint Benedict is celebrated on the day before the Ides of February; it is uncertain, however, whether it is the day of his death or of his deposition. On that day each year his sacred body, he is venerated solemnly on February 12. and also an arm enclosed in a silver case, is carried through the city under a canopy borne by the city magistrate, in a solemn procession of the clergy and people: because the city of Albenga has adopted this same Saint, together with Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Calocerus the Martyr, and Saint Veranus the Bishop, as its special Protector.