ON ST. ALNOTHUS, HERMIT AND MARTYR IN ENGLAND,
AROUND THE YEAR 700.
Historical Summary.
Alnothus, hermit, Martyr in England (St.)
Author I. B.
[1] Northampton is a city of England, situated on the river Anton (or Aufona, as Camden prefers): whence the city seems to have received its name and to have given it to the broad County, which is situated in nearly the very center of England. A little higher up toward the sources of the same river, along the Praetorian Way, as the cited Camden reports on page 376 of the London edition of 1607, lies Wedon, formerly a royal seat of Wulphere, King of Mercia, converted into a monastery by his daughter Werburga, a most holy Virgin. Not far from there, Stowa -- commonly Stow, or Stowe -- is a village visible in the map of this County in Camden and Speed, in whose village church the relics of St. Alnothus were formerly preserved. He was first a herdsman of St. Werburga, then an anchorite in a nearby forest, where, having been slain by robbers, he was considered a Martyr.
[2] On the 3rd of February we published the Life of St. Werburga, formerly transmitted to our Heribert Rosweyde by Camden, and written, unless our conjecture is mistaken, by Jocelin, or Goscelin. In it, chapter 3, number 12, whatever has been discovered about St. Alnothus is narrated in these words: How great was Werburga's humility, and how great also her exaltation before God, is confirmed at the same place of Wedon by other evidences. She had a herdsman, a man of pious conduct and, as far as was possible under human servitude, of holy life, who is also perpetuated and celebrated festively in his own places by the fame of his merits -- Alnothus by name. When the lady's steward happened to lacerate this man with a most cruel beating, and he bore everything most meekly in the name of God, the compassion of the gracious Virgin, unable to endure his suffering, rushed to the feet of the unworthy tormentor, crying out with entreaty and reproach: "Spare him for the love of God; why do you torture an innocent man, who before the most high Beholder is, as I believe, more acceptable than all of us?" And when that man was too slow to relent, whether from fury or from pride, immediately his stiff neck and fierce face were bent backward by heavenly indignation. Thus at last, as he should have done sooner, he himself fell at the feet of his Lady, and with tears begged for the pardon which he had denied to the innocent one, acknowledging his own guilt.
[3] The aforementioned man lies at Stow, one league from Buccabrive: leading an anchoritic life in the forest, he was martyred by brigands, and divine signs revealed him as one acceptable to God, as is celebrated. In the manuscript, Buccubrive was incorrectly written as Uccabrue, with the two letters b and i worn away. This place seems to be what is called Biabrook in Camden's map of Northamptonshire, and Bugbrok in Speed. In the Monasticon Anglicanum, among the donations made to the Priory of Daventry in the field of Northampton (which Priory is not far from Wedona), mention is made of the manor and church of Braybrok: whether this is the same place as what is called Biabrook, Bugbrok, and Buccabrive, I would not venture to conjecture.
[4] Jerome Porter treats of Alnothus in his Flowers of the Lives of the Saints of England, in the Life of St. Werburga; yet he does not mention Stow and Buccabrive. The one whom the writer of the Life of St. Werburga calls the Lady's steward, by whom the holy man was unjustly and atrociously beaten, Porter calls the Governor, or Bailiff. Capgrave also mentions Alnothus in the Life of the same St. Werburga, where he has the following: That herdsman, leading an anchoritic life in a certain forest, is eventually martyred by robbers. Nicholas Harpsfield writes of the same Saint in the Ecclesiastical History of England, century 7, chapter 23: In this century also there was Alnothus the anchorite, who was killed by robbers in the wilderness.
[5] John Wilson inscribed St. Alnothus the Martyr in the English Martyrology on the 27th of February: following whom, Ferrarius in the New Catalogue of Saints says: In England, of St. Alnothus, Martyr. But the same Wilson in a later edition of his Martyrology placed him on the 25th of November, giving no reason for the change. And since it is by no means certain to us on which day his anniversary memorial is customarily observed, we have preferred to choose the former of the two days proposed by Wilson, because in this same month we gave the Life of St. Werburga, which the reader may consult. One thing in Alnothus's eulogy in Wilson does not find our approval in either instance: that he writes that Alnothus led his solitary life in the district of Ely, when it is expressly said that in the place of Wedon, or near it, that divinely inflicted punishment was visited upon the cruel steward, and was repelled by the intercession of the holy Virgin: moreover it is established that Wedon is in the County of Northampton, even though St. Werburga also dwelt in the convent of Ely.
[6] Whether St. Alnothus died in defense of the Faith or of some other Christian virtue is not sufficiently certain, even though he is called martyred. But, as we have frequently urged elsewhere, often those who were killed as innocents by the impious, even if not from hatred of religion, yet if they afterwards became illustrious through prodigies, have been honored with the distinguished title of Martyrs. Thus St. Meinrad on the 21st of January, St. Mengold on the 8th of February, St. Rumold on the 1st of July. But sometimes men of profligate life, because they could not endure the unusual splendor of virtues, laid hands upon the innocent: or because they envied them their divine gifts and the favor of Heaven, as Cain did Abel, whom no one would readily deny to have been truly and properly a Martyr. Some, because they cured diseases by their prayers, performed other miracles, or were thronged by the concourse of people on account of their extraordinary holiness, and were therefore thought to be enriched by their offerings, were killed by those who lusted after their possessions: by which reasoning their slaughter can be considered to have proceeded from the worship of God, and He who grants that these things should not be a harm to them for having laid down their life grants them the crown of martyrdom. Moreover, the veneration of St. Alnothus seems to be quite clearly indicated in number 2 by these words: "He is perpetuated by the fame of his merits in his own places and IS CELEBRATED FESTIVELY." And in number 3: "Divine signs revealed him as acceptable to God."
[7] Wilson writes in both editions of his Martyrology that St. Alnothus was killed around the year 670. But from what was said on the 3rd of February concerning the age of St. Werburga, it is plainly established that this happened much later, since Wulphere the King, father of St. Werburga, died in the year 675, and his daughter first embraced the monastic life in the convent of Ely a year or two later: nor does it seem that she converted her father's palace at Wedon into a monastery immediately after, but only after a good many years had passed. While she herself presided over this monastery, Alnothus was a herdsman, and having afterward become an anchorite, it is uncertain how long afterward he was slain by wicked men.