CONCERNING THE HOLY MARTYRS BRUNO, ARCHBISHOP, AND EIGHTEEN COMPANIONS IN PRUSSIA,
Year of Christ 1008.
Preliminary Commentary.
Bruno, Archbishop, Martyr in Prussia (St.) Eighteen Companion Martyrs in Prussia (SS.)
By I. B.
[1] Various nations border the Gulf of the Codanus, or Baltic Sea. On the southern shore, in the space that lies between the mouths of the Vistula River and Samogitia, the Prussians dwell -- whether of Germanic or Slavic origin, The Prussians, dwellers by the Baltic Sea it is not the occasion to inquire. Helmold seems to include under the name of Prussians also Livonia and Samogitia, when on this side of that sea, which he calls "barbarous" or the Scythian deep, he places first from the east the Ruthenians, then the Poles, who have the Prussians to the north and the Bohemians to the south. The name is now somewhat more narrowly applied.
[2] That people received the faith of Christ rather late. For in the age of Helmold, who wrote under Emperor Frederick I, around the year of Christ 1170, the Prussians had not yet come to know the light of faith, as he himself testifies in Book 1, chapter 1 of the Chronicle of the Slavs. And shortly: "Much," he says, "could be said in praise of this people concerning their customs, hostile to the faith if only they had the faith of Christ, whose preachers they most cruelly persecute. Among them the illustrious Bishop of Bohemia, Adalbert, was crowned with martyrdom. St. Adalbert, Bishop of Prague, goes to them To this day indeed, among them, while all other things are held in common with our people, access alone is forbidden to groves and springs, which they believe to be polluted by the approach of Christians." So says Helmold. Moreover, the holy and most glorious Martyr of Christ, Adalbert, suffered on the ninth day before the Kalends of May, under the dominion of Otto III, the pious and most illustrious Caesar, on the sixth day of the week, as the author of his Life records, which we shall present on April 23. Otto III reigned from the year 984 to January 23, 1002. Twice during his reign, April 23 fell on the sixth day of the week -- and upon his death in the third and fourteenth years of his reign, that is, in the years of Christ 986 and 997, in which the Dominical letter was C. St. Adalbert cannot have undergone martyrdom in the former year. For having returned to Prague at the command of Pope Gregory V, he went shortly after to the Prussians with the same Pope's consent, as is clear from the Life already cited. But Gregory was not proclaimed Pontiff until the year 996. Therefore, in the year 997, Adalbert was crowned with martyrdom.
[3] By his example, or even at his instigation, Bruno sought the same province and with eighteen companions bore away the same laurel of martyrdom in the year 1008. He was of illustrious birth, a kinsman of Ditmar, Bishop of Merseburg (who is known to have been born of Count Sigfrid). St. Bruno of Querfurt The lineage of Bruno is set forth more clearly by Paul Langius, a Benedictine monk of Bosau, in the Chronicle of Zeitz: "Bruno," he says, "Bishop and Martyr, himself also of our order, was an Apostolic preacher. A Saxon by nationality, born of the illustrious house of the Barons of Querfurt, and educated in the monastery of Magdeburg under the care and teaching of the above-mentioned Archbishop Adalbert, he grew into a man of the most approved religion and outstanding holiness." Peter Cratepolius, in his work on the Saints of Germany, writes that he was born of the illustrious ducal family of Saxony. Querfurt is a territory situated between the rivers Saale, Unstrut, and Rawa, which formerly had its own particular Counts; it is now joined to Mansfeld. But from the Querfurt line descend the most illustrious Counts who hold Mansfeld. not an Italian Trithemius in his book on Ecclesiastical Writers and Wilhelm Eisengrein in his Catalogue of Witnesses to the Truth err when they claim that Bruno was an Italian by nationality; as does Sixtus of Siena, who in Book 4 of his Bibliotheca says he was born and educated in Italy.
[4] The same Trithemius, in Book 2 on the Illustrious Men of the Order of St. Benedict, reports that he was a monk of a certain monastery in Italy, nor a monk in Italy the name of which did not occur to the author, and he repeats this in Book 3, chapter 230 and Book 4, chapter 116. But Sixtus of Siena says he was a Cassinese monk. It is more probable (as Gabriel Bucelinus also noted in his Annals of Germany at the year 1008) that he became a monk at Magdeburg, but at Magdeburg where he had been educated in letters together with Ditmar. Otto the Great had built a monastery there at the urging of his most holy wife Edith; later he arranged for it to be converted into an archiepiscopal See, the monks being transferred to a suburban hill. Adalbert, moreover, under whose teaching and care Langius writes that Bruno was educated, had been a monk at the monastery of St. Maximin in Trier, and was ordained Bishop of Russia. Thence expelled by the Gentiles, he was constituted the first Archbishop of Magdeburg on October 18 in the year 970 by Apostolic authority, as Ditmar writes, while Richarius presided over the monastery after Hanno and Otwinus had been promoted elsewhere to bishoprics -- the same Richarius who also declined the episcopal office that was offered to him. To that most holy prelate Adalbert, then, another Adalbert was sent (who subsequently became Bishop of Prague and Apostle of the Prussians), and he studied at Magdeburg under the most learned monk Othric, until the latter, having been elected successor to Archbishop Adalbert in the thirteenth year of his ordination, where he had learned his letters went to Italy to Otto II, and there died. Here, therefore, Bruno also learned his letters, either while the same Archbishop Adalbert was still alive, or after his death, since he attended the philosopher Geddo, who likely was placed in charge of the school after Othric.
[5] Afterward, summoned to the Court by Otto III, Bruno was received with great tokens of benevolence; leaving the Court, he becomes a monk shortly afterward he abandoned it and the world altogether, embracing the religious life. Elias Reusner in the supplement to his genealogical work, page 45, writes that he had been a Canon of Magdeburg and afterward a Benedictine monk. Trithemius, in Book 3 on the Illustrious Men of the Order of St. Benedict, chapter 230, praises him as most holy in his manners and way of life, and also very distinguished in learning and knowledge of the Scriptures. distinguished in holiness and learning And in Book 4, chapter 116, he says that he shone nobly in knowledge of the Scriptures and integrity of character. But in Book 2, chapter 85: "He wrote," he says, "an illustrious work on Genesis, and certain other things, which have not come into our hands." The same is found in his book on Ecclesiastical Writers, though not in writings and after him in Eisengrein and Sixtus of Siena. However, as Arnold Wion rightly observed, they ascribe to this Bruno what belongs to another St. Bruno, Bishop of Segni in Italy and afterward a monk at Monte Cassino, whose Life we shall present on July 17; for his commentaries not only on Genesis but on the entire Pentateuch survive, as well as other distinguished works, printed at Venice in the year 1651.
[6] Then, in the twelfth year after his conversion, Bruno emerged from his holy retreats, roused, I believe, chiefly by the triumphs of Adalbert the Martyr; and he resolved to go himself to the lands of the Gentiles, either to win them for Christ or to gain for himself the triumph of martyrdom. Yet he did not undertake that expedition on his own initiative. Rather, he first disclosed his plans in person to the Roman Pontiff, who, offering good wishes, decided that he should be adorned with the episcopal dignity, and gave him the Pallium with which, once consecrated, he would be distinguished. Bruno brought this with him into Germany, and with the approval of St. Henry the King for what he was undertaking, he was consecrated at Merseburg by Tagino, the fourth Archbishop of the Church of Magdeburg, he is made Archbishop whom Reineccius and others call Tagmo; Krantzius calls him Dago; Bucelinus calls him Dado, Dageni, or Dudo; Paul Langius calls him Dagenon.
[7] The Roman Martyrology designates Bruno as Bishop of the Ruthenians. For this reason Antonius Demochares, in Book 2 on the Sacrifice of the Mass, chapter 25, erroneously numbered him among the Bishops of Rodez in Gaul. not of the Ruthenians of Gaul Following him, Andreas Saussay in the Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology at February 14 writes thus: "At Rodez, the Passion of St. Bruno, Bishop and Martyr, who, embracing his flock with visceral love, and striving to preserve faith and justice against all impiety and injustice, was fiercely slain by the wicked whom he pursued with the voice of a good Shepherd -- as a sheep, nay rather a generous ram of the sheepfold, by wolves -- and earned the eternal crown of the supreme contest." We acknowledge that there are indeed Ruteni, a people of Gaul, whose city is commonly called Rutena, in French "Rodez en Rouergue"; but the Ruteni who border on the Poles are different, who would more correctly perhaps be called Russi or Rossi, and were brought to Christ in the age of St. Bruno. Baronius, Volume 11, at the year 1008, number 5, believes that when Bruno is said to have brought the faith into Prussia, Prussia is used for Russia. but of the Russians But Ditmar, who was alive at that time and wrote much about the Russians, expressly says that he proceeded to Prussia and was afterwards killed on the border of the said region and Russia. Wlodimir, King of the Russians, had indeed not long before been initiated into the Christian religion with his twelve sons and nearly his entire nation; but because, though orthodox, he followed Greek rites, it may rightly be questioned whether he either sought or would have admitted a Latin Bishop at all -- unless perhaps as an extraordinary Legate of the Supreme Pontiff. It is more likely that Bruno was destined as Apostle and Bishop not for the Russians or rather of the Prussians but for the Prussians. Certainly, at the time when Boleslaw waged war against Yaroslav, son of Wlodimir, there was a proper Archbishop of Kiev, then the metropolis of the Russians, as is clear from the same Ditmar. That other Russians were still pagans at that time, however, we infer from the Life of St. Romuald on February 7, chapter 8, where their King is mentioned as having been converted by St. Boniface, a disciple of the same Romuald.
[8] Bruno seems to have brought companions and helpers in his holy work from his own monastery. Certainly eighteen died with him; but some of them were perhaps Prussian neophytes. with the favor of Boleslaw, King of Poland Boleslaw, King of the Poles, favored the noble efforts of Bruno. He is said to have been surnamed "Chaber" in the Russian tongue -- that is, "Courageous and Powerful" -- on account of his distinguished deeds, as Matthias of Miechow reports in Book 2, chapter 7 of his Polish History. He had arranged for the body of St. Adalbert the Martyr to be brought to Gniezno and magnificently enshrined there. and honoring him with gifts He accompanied Bruno and his companions, who were pressing forward with the endeavors of the holy Martyr, with ample gifts, and other Polish nobles followed his example. And the same Boleslaw, attacking Prussia with military force, is reported to have compelled the Prussians to pay tribute. This, however, if Miechow reckons correctly, occurred after the death of St. Bruno -- perhaps in vengeance for it.
[9] Moreover, the gifts that Bruno had received from the devout and munificent Prince he soon distributed among churches, his associates, and the poor, as Ditmar testifies. This is evidence that he made somewhat more progress than St. Adalbert, inasmuch as he also established churches there -- he preaches in Prussia with profit unless perhaps Ditmar understood that the royal gifts were distributed by him to churches in Poland. However that may be, he could not easily soften the harsh hearts of the Prussians. How long he labored in cultivating that field may be inferred from the fact that he was not ordained Bishop before the year of Christ 1005, not for long by Tagino, who received the insignia of Magdeburg on February 2 of that same year. Bucelinus believes that the Lithuanians were converted by him. For in his annals he writes thus: "The great Apostle of Germany enters heaven in triumph and laureled -- St. Bruno, monk of the monastery of St. John at Magdeburg, he does not convert the Lithuanians the same being the eternal glory of the most illustrious family -- brother of Gebhard, Duke of Saxony; who, after converting the Lithuanians to Christ, while laboring in Prussia also with great profit, was cruelly slain by certain barbarians." The Lithuanians were converted nearly 400 years after his martyrdom, under Jagiello and Vytautas; although some individuals are found to have embraced the truth before that time, the nation as a whole did not. Nor do I see how he could have so imbued so vast a province with religion in a triennium that it was possible for him, with sacred rites there established, to depart to the Prussians.
[10] As for the same author's claim that Gebhard was Duke of Saxony, I do not know on what authority he affirms this. his brother was not Duke of Saxony Elias Reusner, in the supplement to his genealogical work, page 45, where he presents the family tree of the Noble Lords of Querfurt, from whom the Counts of Mansfeld trace their origin, lists Gebhard and Burchard as brothers of Bruno, and Elizabeth, whom he says was Abbess at Prague, as his sister. He says that from Burchard was born another Gebhard, whose son Lothair was created Duke of Saxony by
Emperor Henry V and finally became Emperor in the year 1125. But neither the elder Gebhard nor this Gebhard's uncle, Bruno's brother, are found named as Dukes of Saxony among the writers of Saxon affairs. The same Reusner reports that the elder Gebhard's wife, from old family records as I believe, was Sophia of Mansfeld, who bore him nine children in a single birth, all of whom their uncle Bruno baptized at a most limpid spring below Querfurt, which afterward retained his name. his brother's grandson was St. Bruno, Bishop of Wurzburg Whether from these was Mechtild, who married Conrad, Duke of Carinthia, he does not indicate. She was the mother of St. Bruno, Bishop of Wurzburg, to whom she herself seems to have given the name Bruno from her uncle, the Martyr of whom we treat here. Burchard, Mechtild's brother, was one of the twins.
[11] In the year 1008, on February 14, St. Bruno was killed with his eighteen companions. So says Marianus Scotus at that year: he himself, with 18 companions, crowned with martyrdom in the year 1008 "Bishop Bruno, afflicted with many torments by the Prussians, and having had his hands and feet cut off, was finally beheaded and sought heaven." The Ursberg Chronicle has the same. Paul Langius: "While he most steadfastly endeavored to enrich the Lord's field with new crops, and assiduously and with immense ardor preached Christ to the aforementioned peoples, on the borders of Russia, by certain hardened and furious scoffers of the faith, his hands were cut off and his feet, his tongue moreover was cut out, and the holy man's eyes were gouged out, and he attained the palm of martyrdom." In the Chronicle of Sigebert this is said to have occurred in the year 1009, and in the edition of Miraeus in 1010. Krantzius also mentions the same martyrdom in his Saxonia, Book 4, chapter 28, and Metropolis, Book 4, chapter 3; likewise Trithemius and Sixtus of Siena cited above. Trithemius indeed reports that he endured many labors and was illustrious for many miracles before he was killed.
[12] We shall append Ditmar's more precise narrative of Bruno's contest, which is also printed in the third edition of Surius at the Ides of October, on February 14, the day on which he is venerated since the narrative itself indicates a different day of martyrdom, namely the sixteenth day before the Kalends of March. On which day Ferrarius writes in the General Catalogue of Saints: "In Prussia, the Passion of SS. Bruno the Bishop and his companions." On the same day a manuscript Calendar of the Order of St. Benedict has: "St. Bruno, Archbishop of the Ruthenians, martyred by the Ruthenians, formerly a monk in Italy." That he was neither a monk in Italy nor killed by the Ruthenians, we have already demonstrated above. Saussay reports him on the same day, but his attribution of Bruno to the Ruteni, a people of Gaul, has already been refuted.
[13] He is inscribed in the Roman Martyrology on October 15 in these words: by some, October 15 "In Prussia, St. Bruno, Bishop of the Ruthenians and Martyr, who, preaching the Gospel in that region, was seized by the impious, and having had his hands and feet cut off, was beheaded." Arnold Wion and Hugh Menard have the same on that day. Benedict Dorgani also writes thus: "Of St. Bruno, Bishop and Martyr, Apostle of the Prussians and Lithuanians." Baronius in his Annals at the year 1008 believes that on that day his translation took place, since it is established that he was killed on February 14. on which day he was perhaps translated Wion, in Book 2 of the Lignum Vitae, chapter 29, writes much about the same holy Bishop -- but erroneously states that he died on the Ides of October.
LIFE
by Ditmar, Bishop of Merseburg, from a manuscript codex and the edition of Reineccius.
Bruno, Archbishop, Martyr in Prussia (St.) Eighteen Companion Martyrs in Prussia (SS.)
BHL Number: 1470
[1] There was a certain man named Brun, a contemporary and fellow student of mine, born of a most illustrious family, St. Bruno, of noble birth but, by Divine mercy, beloved among the children of God above all his other relatives. He was uniquely beloved by his venerable mother Yda, and was entrusted to the teaching of the philosopher Geddo, and all that he ought to have was provided to him in abundance. His father was called Brun, an elder distinguished and praiseworthy in all things, who was close to me by kinship and to all by acquaintance. as a boy, he was liberally educated His son and namesake, when he should have gone to school in the morning, before he left his lodging asked for leave, and while we played, he himself was in prayer. He preferred work to leisure, and thus bearing fruit, he arrived at maturity. he becomes a monk Being desired by the third Otto, he was therefore received into his court. Not long after, leaving him, he sought the solitary life and lived by the labor of his own hands.
[2] Under the reign, by the grace of God, of the second Henry, after the death of the most glorious Emperor, he came to Merseburg seeking the episcopal blessing with the permission of the Lord Pope, made Bishop and at his command received consecration from Archbishop Tagino, and the Pallium, which he himself had brought hither, he received there. Thence, for the profit of souls, with the favor of the King of Poland he undertook the labor of a great and varied journey, chastising and crucifying his body with hunger and vigils. He received many goods from Boleslaw and other wealthy men, which he immediately distributed among churches, his associates, and the poor, retaining nothing for himself.
[3] In the twelfth year of his illustrious conversion, proceeding to Prussia, he strove to fecundate its barren fields with divine seed. he preaches to the Prussians But the thorns springing up from the harsh soil could not easily be softened. When therefore on the border of the aforesaid region and of Russia, he was first forbidden by the inhabitants, and as he continued to preach, he was seized, and for the love of Christ, he is killed with 18 companions who is the Head of the Church, on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of March, gentle as a lamb, he was beheaded, with his eighteen companions. Their bodies lay unburied until Boleslaw, learning of it, purchased them the King of Poland redeems the bodies and acquired for his household a future consolation. These things were done in the time of the Most Serene King Henry, whom Almighty God honored with the triumph of so great a Bishop, and -- O, as I hope -- greatly benefited. St. Bruno's father becomes a monk Moreover, the father of the aforesaid Bishop, falling ill long afterward, and, as he himself told me, at the command of his son, took the monastic habit, and on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of November rested in peace.
Notese Reineccius: "Ida."